Your Vote Could Be Thrown Out, And You Won't Even Know - And Response (5)

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This is not an accurate representation of how the Interstate Crosscheck Voter Registration Program works in Tennessee. The program compares a voter’s name, date of birth and the last four digits of their SSN, not simply a voter’s first and last name as the article suggests. 

“If a person with your first and last name was identified as being registered in more than one state, you may be flagged as having potentially committed voter fraud... voting more than once in an election. There is no reference to middle-name, no reference to date of birth or social security number.” 

No one is purged from the list in Tennessee without additional follow-up to the voter. Even if someone is purged, the voter would still be offered a provisional ballot, which would be counted if they were mistakenly removed. 

I thought you would like to know and may consider a correction. 

Adam Ghassemi
Director of Communications
Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett 

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Mr. Hine, the Republicans have fought for voter I.D. laws while Democrats have argued that there are no incidences of voter fraud to warrant such a law which they claim will suppress votes. 

But now you come along and are arguing that votes are indeed being suppressed. So I think by supporting voter I.D. requirements you and your liberal comrades could completely eliminate your worries concerning these blacks, Hispanics, and Asians-Americans having their votes thrown out?  We as Americans are required on almost a daily basis to confirm our identities with a photo I.D. and for this to be a requirement to vote seems logical. 

By the way, you state that 80 percent of people with the surname Washington are black, I would accept that as a fact. Then you go on to state that if your last name is Lee that you're more than likely Asian.  I challenge you to substantiate this claim. 

C.L. Leigh 

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There really have been problems found with the Interstate Crosscheck System designed to flag potential voters casting their votes in more than one state. So much so that Florida left the system around 2014, according a Miami Herald article. An important, but often overlooked warning by some states is by Crosscheck itself that admits there can be problems, "A significant number of double votes are actually false positives that weren't double votes after all."  This is an actual warning by the system itself.  

An MSNBC article stated this about the Interstate Crosskcheck System used in North Carolina: "Based on Crosscheck data, the state elections board announced that it had found upwards of 35,000 potential double voters—provoking a frenzy among state and national Republicans and conservative media. But that turned out to be the number of voters whose names and birth dates – not Social Security numbers—matched those of voters in other states. Experts quickly pointed out that with such a large data pool, the statistical chances for false matches are high. Even the much smaller number of matches that included Social Security numbers, 765, was likely largely the result of errors by voters or poll-workers." 

Registered poor voters, who are believed to be the ones most negatively impacted by any Crosscheck System screw-ups, move around a lot. Therefore, any letters sent out to them are likely to be missed, and there's usually a statement on most government mail "Do Not Forward." Meaning the mail will automatically be returned to the sender, if at all. There are indeed potentially serious problems with the Interstate Crosscheck System. Some might be human errors, but those mistakes can cause a lot of innocent registered voters to be purged depending on how the system is used or abused.  

Brenda Washington