Anhing. Supporting cspan as a public service. The secretaries of state for new mexico and rhode island also spoke at the election policy symposium where they stressed the importance of maintaining uptodate voter lists and transparency and disinformation. This is about one hour and 15 minutes. [inaudible conversations] we are going to get started so if everyone can make it back to their seats. Give everyone a minute here. Iow appreciate everyone quieting down so fast. Thats remarkable. We are about to embark on our second panel of the summit and if it is on a topic that for those of you that know me and know my work over the last 25 years in the election space is near and dear to my heart probably the most important thing talking aboutut the nuts d bolts of election. Weve m made strides the past couple of decades maintaining accurate voter lists and those two aspects are important whereas when we talk about Voter Registration, so much of the time by those who would seek to make a choice between. What we know iss that is a fulls choice that you can do both and both are necessary to fully enfranchise voters so we put together a great panel for the conversation. Really pleased to haveio everyoe here. Its going to be moderated and there are so many that cover election and issues and they are doingon a great job of understanding the challenges. For most of us, pam was at the forefront. Ive been working and talking with her for more years then i than iwill say for her benefit d mine. Next to her is Maggie Oliver who is also a former county election official ive also no longer than i will say. Next to maggie as the secretary from rhode island elected in 2022 and a secretary steve simon of minnesota the office that oversees more voters than almost all of the states and next to jeremy the former counsel so i will leave it to you to take it from here. Thank you very much david. As david said earlier, election conferences used to be very boring and among the most boring topics was list maintenance but that is no longer the case, so im very excited that we have a wonderful panel here. It struck me that this was an area where there generally was a lot of agreement between democratic and republican officials. The need to have clean voter rolls, clean and accurate voter rules. When you put a lot of work into making that happen, that work still continues but we also see that they still have problems. Theres still in inaccuracies and most recently they are often used by groups that are trying to undermine confidence as proof that the system is still with fraud so i wanted to talk with each of you why is it so important to have clean election rules for the work that you do and. Thanks all of you for being here. As david mentioned i started my career as a county clerk and a process Voter Registrations myself because there are many times as any of you that worked in the county Elections Office no the job has to get done even if it means the boss lady herself us to pull up her sleeves and get Voter Registrations processed, thats what m it means. Obviously having clean voter lists is important for Election Integrity because everybody wants to know eligible voters and only eligible voters are casting a ballot. It is critical to that effort and i remember when i first came into office, so i was a democrat lets get that out front, be very clear about it i remember having sort of ongoing dialogue i dont want to say battles but ongoing dialogue with groups from the left who were watching. Its pejoratively referred to as the purge but the process that we will have to undertake every single state every two years by ofederal law how that was being done and whether it was being done properly. I quickly realized coming from more of the political side to being an election administrator but this was an absolutely crucial process because the more errors the more issues you have with the voter file and registered voters the more likely you are to have problems and questions about whether or not the outcomes are accurate. Over the years ive been doing this work weve gone from few tools in the toolkit to since the requirements of a centralized statewide Voter Registration database i cant imagine what those of you who are in this world had to deal with when every election jurisdiction across the state had their own but thats all weve had and in new mexico i should also say im very blessed that we are one of the states that has been able to use Social Security numbers. We were grandfathered in under the act. Weve always had the tool in our toolkit whichy has been great. With the evolution particularly in being able to not only share information with other states but also to use the file we follow i think in our state the gold standard. Lethe challenges moving forwardi will be brief since ive talked quite a bit and we have plenty of panelists are that i think theres an expectation but somehow the voter lists should be perfect and that is literally never going to happen. We have a transient population in the country. Voter registration is voluntary. It may be automatic in some places but its still voluntary so we are never going to have a perfect list at any given time so figuring out how to not make the perfect the enemy of the good and to be able to have a high level of accuracy and confidence, thats our challengf moving forward. I know youve only been in office like four months. How do you see the challenge of keeping accurate roles and what are some of the things in space . About 15 minutes ago i was a teacher worrying about my students but i would agree the best pushback on questions surrounding voting and we need to do everything we can to make sure that is the case. I sponsored thewn rhode island vote act into expanded voter access so drop boxes no excuse mailin voting so extending access but it was the requirement for the department of state. To maggies point my primary opponent accused me of wanting to purge the list and i am a im arelatively progressive guyi have a record in the General Assembly and there is a confusion so we talk about left and right and where the denial is in comes from and the pressure points. It comes from both ends of the spectrum. We make sure that we explain what that means and i think that the panelor did a good job of talking about how important it is to take the time to respectfully explain the system. If i can speak to a group of people and there is a Ripple Effect based on that conversation. Twice a month they indicated whos incarcerated in whose released and we are receiving information every other week from the department of health that we are receiving the reports. That calms people and makes them feel better about the process but ii think its a process. This is not a soundbite situation. And the small and large groups when you can explain people gety confidence. Why is it so hard to have cleanl voter rolls . What are some of the challenges you face . I agree but when i secretary of state its foundational the coin of the realm of those data, information. Its only going to be as good as your and very often is due to sameday Voter Registration. Nothing nefarious, not a conspiracy, not fraud, a function of the laws that we have. That is a challenge in this era of this information to explain that particular feature. That with the county election office. And then that those voter rolls are a mess . And number one l. A. County is larger of 40 of the 50 states. After size and scale and complexity to have a birds eye view of the national challenges. So its very important not to delineate voter role from any other identity based process so my background is primarily for the last ten years in and out of elections but ultimately its very important that our Financial Institutions healthcare institutions is doing with the same challenges as it relates related to our constituency. Those challenges that we have just spent california 30 years ago moving into a home you stay there 30 or 40 years and then you hand that property down to your family and that stays in the family and then it stays 40 or 50 years that was very easy to check at the registrar offer on and property tax organizations and is no longer like that. One of the earlier panelist stated that we manage a very limited community there is a lot of movement associated with that we are a vote by mail states and the minute somebody receives the ballot from the previous they may have moved out one week prior. But that probably level of quality control. Theca average american they dont understand for those challenges. Companies are able to track down those list of customers for in our society and economy they are uptodate and accurate. How do you explain that to the voters that there are all these issues how do you deal with this . From january 2014 until january of this year and i told my wife it would be a two or threeyear job. But when i came and i had allied of litigation experience. I dont know anything about elections other than voting. That the exercise that requires a lie the teamwork from the top of the county all the way down to the people at the polls. And across the whole state whether georgia or california is a complicated logistical exercise. That is why this is so crucial because its really two things it is voter centric thing to do because when a voter shows up to vote everything is right you dont want them to show up at the polls because then that takes longer people around it see it and it looks that smooth and its a voter centric exercise that it is in franchising because a lot y of what you are doing here is what we have because it might be out of date can you update this . And some of the difficulties at the secretary of States Office in georgia we were a part of those trees with those filing fees. [laughter] particularly in the runup ton the 2018 election in georgia and the 2016 election. So any type of maintenance we were doing any type of twitter friendly phrases these were all lies in georgia not a new processor a new law. Was passed by a democratic governor is they had a narrative they wanted to forward so these things that were very well accepted in practice all of a sudden became very controversial. Frankly that wasnt something we were prepared for a secretary of state. But then to the other side of it on the right following the 2020 election, we saw thes lawsuits from people affiliated with trump that here is thisac inaccuracy and it is a difficult process to run perfectly because the data and time. So to answer your question, one thing that we do, there is a lot of notices in the line given to voters and sometimes its more accurate. It doesnt really matter if they send a catalog or piece of mail to the wrong address. And with those political groups will send out mailings on mailings it goes to the wrong person and then one uses magazine subscriptions every time and it is just a great way to start a Conspiracy Theory. Election officials even more so. Talking about education and educating the public this is how the system works and why we take the people off the roles. This is why there are sometimes inaccuracy in the roles and getting mail from a thirdparty group. How much of this is educating voters exactly how the system works . One topic that comes to mind c is this iss of a lot of folks in minnesota how many regular people do you know not like the Conference Attendees here today but how many people do you know when they moved out of the state, after all of the checklist magazine subscriptions, change this, christmas cards, how many people say i better call my local Elections Office and let them know i am leaving . Does anybody do that . [laughter] i have not done that. [laughter] a long time ago when i was in college i dont remember doing that when i lived in another state. Most people dont do that rt wih thens reality there are people who are on the voter rolls in more than one state it is not a Conspiracy Theory not to be this political both the trump and the biden children and we knew that they were perpetrators of fraud are up to no good that normal rational americans who are busy and going about their life ashes one why this matters just got to keep track of this stuff and then we have the tools that we can use. 40 million americans yearly and that is a significant number and talking too the education point nearly 61000 voters from our list in january from the state of rhode island with a. Population of 1 million that is a significant number. That is voter maintenance but also reflective of the 2020 election where ballot applications were sent to every registered voters of those returned undeliverable they were made in active , placed on the inactive list two consecutive federal elections they did not vote they were removed. We issued a T Press Release we could talk about this. We went those in rhode island to ask questions about this so we could explain the process to them. I ran into a rhode island senator at the statehouse a republican senator i was a a trump voter and supporter and say great job. She be unhappy to know 50000 were republicans. [laughter] but we wantn that conversation to happen so the education around this is incredibly important. One problem i often see when i talk to people about the voter rolls the difference between active and inactive it comes back to miseducation are getting the public to understand. I word also add using the earlier examples of behavior in general how many of us received correspondence from a previous person who lived in our home before us or receive information from someone in our own household that has beense deceased . My mother passed away in 2016 and i dont receive any voting material for her. And with that financial institution. And then to look through her broader lens than just voting. Or any level of responsibility to manage quality voter rolls. Take a step back and look at arounder variables all us and they will soon see the voter rolls are probably one of the tighter process in our community today. One thing that really helps we have seen in georgia sometimes in the media especially surrounding a political process, it can be coverage and one thing that we did with the local reporter to go out and found people that went to the addresses and a lot of that coverage was to encourage all the people. And they didnt want to be registered to vote. So everything is checking out and the other thing is it is asking a lot of Election Officials to educate why somebody 99 percent sure remains on the role for four years. Thats a process of federal law and what can the federal government do cracks as i say that its very unlikely but look at the law that says in the nineties, maybe that makes sense thats not the world that we live in. To federal election cycles once you have identified someone that they are no longer in the state. And then moving every single year lets talk about the main tools that are out there to help you and to maintain your voter rolls a couple you have referred to is eric is the Electronic Registration Information Center and for those who dont know, basically a state mind oriz state member or states can voter there Registration Information and compare the list from other national all databases that change of address forms in an e effort to identify anomalies people who have died or registered in two or three places those days that belong to eric but over the last year seven states have just recently pulled out ofri eric. It has been subject now to some criticism and the Misinformation Campaign a leftwing effort funded by george soros to manipulate the voter rules on voter rolls. Why are these attacks coming . Do you see any legitimacy and what impact that has on your ability to have voter rolls and accuracy quick. We were probably the middle set of states to come in after the first guinea pig stand at the time itt was a county election official on that as the clerk of the largest county a highly transient population in my county. Because it is the easiest thing for people without evidence others all the dead people on the voter role. So at the time looking for a republican secretary of state and governor and we convinced everybody this was a great nonpartisan tool that we needed. And to even have a republican majority. And that is what everybody says we want and since then we have seen this as an incredibly effective tool and those that we have to do under the agreement we are preparing to ramp up bad in terms of your question. Highly political and highly partisan issue. So date is the queen of the realm. It is critical to my states ability to have the most accurate voter rolls possible. To be one source in the country the most interconnectivity within the states we will hear some arguments of consortia is popping up that the security mechanisms are there but the level of security is so critical so i reject the partisanship argument especially how it came to be in my state. So uks are in the system have you seen pushback . Its not the most effective way to monitor the roles. I was at the secretary of stories States Office before eric and after. And that with eric and with maintenance it is so much better because yes you get the data but its not just about the data but what do you do with it . You have to have it formatted and in a way that makes it usable. And actionable quickly spending a lot of time on the front and working with formatting and data so all of these people know to sign off because then you can use it. Somebody dumps a bunch of data on you that is it usable. We have seen this maintenance is so much better and it is because of the cost of state data but even without it it makes catching more dead people we may not catch through the normal process so i will say that and second we are so used to push back in georgia. [laughter] so whatever we do thereshi a lot of pushback so thats the best way to do it i think a lot of the m pushback is similar to what we saw pre 2018 election with that noncontroversial process all of ae sudden falling victim to a narrative those that have the reason and the resources to push the narrative so eric is next in line of the narrative of the people you want to push the voter fraud. Im also stealing this line with someone said if you can get out of Voter Suppression and voter fraud than there is a lot that can be accomplished. Why do you think we see the pushback against eric . Andd what impact what is the controversy