In an effort to ensure that the dead aren’t still voting in Arizona, one state senator has teamed up with the Secretary of State’s office to remove the deceased from voting rolls.
The bill is aimed at increasing accuracy and reducing the chance of fraudulent voters, according to Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise.
"From dead people on the rolls to dead-on accuracy on elections, I am pleased that the secretary of state has partnered with me on this reform," the senator said.
Harper met with Secretary of State Ken Bennett to talk about the bill, and was able to accomplish the bill’s provisions without legislation, according to a press release.
Secretary Bennett said his office would be able to expand the existing web-based campaign finance reporting system, which allows committees to report deceased voters.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the current mechanism to remove deceased voters is an automatic process through a statewide database that receives its information from the department of health.
If the information does not match to a voter, the county sends the voter’s household for confirmation of the voter’s signature.
Bennett will present the bill to the Voter Registration Arizona County Advisory Committee so it can become an adopted practice. The group meets in two weeks.
