In July 2007, the Board of Elections conducted a National Change of Address (NCOA) & Supplemental Confirmation Notice Mailing, which was required by the National Voter Registration Act, including two federal elections.

By James W. Wade III

Staff reporter

The Cuyahoga Board of Elections (BOE) will implement the National Change of Address and Inactive voter cancellation process that will take place this summer. The process of cancellation scheduled for September 2011 actually started with a mailing to the individuals in 2007. (Two federal election cycles ago.)

According to the Board of Elections this year's required cancellation will not happen until September, 2011 and by then some people on the list might sign a petition or vote or call us and confirm their registration which would in turn keep them active and they would remain on our list.

The BOE before canceling anyone will communicate with all Mayors, Councils, State Reps, Senators, Congresspersons and other community leaders. The BOE will start that outreach program soon. They will also put the cancellation list on it’s website as part of the outreach.

Last month the BOE sent a mailing to persons who either had a change of address according to the post office since 2009 or have not had any voter activity during that period so now the four year cycle begins for them. If we do not receive a response or if they do not have any voter activity in the next four years, they will be removed in 2015.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) requires that each state conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters. Voters identified are sent a Confirmation Notice and have four years or two federal elections to respond to the notice. The NVRA also requires that these ineligible voters be removed:

(1) not later than one hundred twenty (120) days after the date of the second federal general election in which the elector fails to vote; or

(2) not later than one hundred twenty (120) days after the expiration of the four-year period in which the elector fails to vote or respond to a Confirmation Notice/Confirmation Return Notice, whichever is later.

In July 2007, the Board of Elections conducted a National Change of Address (NCOA) & Supplemental Confirmation Notice Mailing, which was required by the National Voter Registration Act, including two federal elections.

The NCOA program compares voter files with the U.S. Postal Service's NCOA records to identify voters who have moved in the 24 month period since the last NCOA mailing, which was in 2005. We matched 65,912 records with the NCOA file provided by the Secretary of State.

The Supplemental Program identifies voters who did not vote in an election during the period beginning May 4, 2005 and ending May 8, 2007 and did not engage in any voter activity during the same period. We identified 218,907 records under the supplemental program, for a total of 284,819 records.

The 284,819 voters identified in the NCOA and Supplemental programs were mailed a Confirmation Notice Sept. 28, 2007. Any inactive voter records where the confirmation notice was not returned or the notice was returned undeliverable are required to be purged. As of July 7, 2011 the BOE have 101,703 names that they still have not received any response nor did the voters have any activity on their record such as signing a petition or voting for example. The purge according to law must take place after the four year anniversary of the 2007 mailing.

The 4 year cycle comes due to not everyone voting in every election. The voting records are based on giving the person the benefit of the doubt; it has to be this way to make sure people aren't denied the right to vote, so until there is a doubt, the person will remain on the voting roll.

Remember if you move, it is your responsibility to notify the BOE. Don't just assume the post office will give the BOE your new address. If you move, go to your local library or post office to pick up a new voter registration card, or download one from the BOE website, and send it to the Board of Elections with your new address.

If you move to another county or state, and you register to vote in your new county or state, your new Board of Elections should notify the Cuyahoga County BOE, but still go ahead and notify the BOE to cancel your registration.

As a result of this ACT, the Board of Elections is now required to conduct the purge of the voter registration records. These records will be removed on September 28, 2011 as required by law.