FarmerJohn
Has No Life - Lives on TB
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1246494.html
BY KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - Federal officials have asked election officials in six states to investigate whether social security number checks are being improperly run on people registering to vote.
Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue sent a letter Friday to the secretaries of state of Alabama, Georgia and battleground states Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. The letter noted they had submitted "extraordinarily high levels" of verification requests.
"Such a volume appears to be much greater than one would expect, given that states of comparable or larger populations have a significantly lower number of verification requests," Astrue wrote in his letter to Georgia officials.
With nearly two million requests since Oct. 1, 2007, Georgia has made far more social security number verification requests than any other state, according to the Social Security Administration. Alabama was second with about one million requests.
Helen Butler, of the independent Georgia Coalition for the Peoples' Agenda, said she would like an explanation why the number of requests far exceeds the number of newly registered Georgia voters.
"We certainly will be following this very closely because we want to make sure the process is being carried out correctly," said Butler, whose advocacy group educates voters.
Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Rob Simms said Tuesday that Astrue's letter arrived a day earlier and it was the first time state officials were alerted to an unusually high number of requests.
"At this point today, I would dispute those figures," Simms said in a phone interview.
By Monday's deadline, Georgia registered just over 406,000 new voters this year for the Nov. 4 election, said Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.
Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman attributed the high number of verification requests to the large number of people registering to vote. Alabama residents have until 10 days before the ballot to register.
"We have had a record number of people register to vote ... If that's increasing the number of times the Social Security Administration is having to check numbers that's an excellent problem to have, and it means more people are involved in democracy," Chapman said.
Because of the letter, Chapman said she is asking voter registrars to first check drivers' licenses whenever possible.
Gary Bartlett, director of North Carolina's State Board of Elections, said the Social Security Administration was questioning why the state has had almost 400,000 social security validations for the year. But the state also has had some 700,000 voter registrations ahead of Friday's deadline.
While drivers' license are used to verify many voters, Bartlett said North Carolina's large military and college communities could be registering with out-of-state licenses. He said others may have used social security numbers as the easiest to remember.
Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, many states have an agreement with the Social Security Administration requiring them to submit the last four digits of a new voter's social security number for verification if the person does not have a valid state-issued ID such as a license.
"Rest assured, we think this is just absolutely off-base," Bartlett said.
Astrue wants the six states that received the letters to make sure their officials are verifying only those new voters who don't have acceptable state-issued identification, in line with their agreements with the agency, Social Security Administration spokesman Mark Lassiter said Tuesday by phone.
BY KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - Federal officials have asked election officials in six states to investigate whether social security number checks are being improperly run on people registering to vote.
Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue sent a letter Friday to the secretaries of state of Alabama, Georgia and battleground states Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. The letter noted they had submitted "extraordinarily high levels" of verification requests.
"Such a volume appears to be much greater than one would expect, given that states of comparable or larger populations have a significantly lower number of verification requests," Astrue wrote in his letter to Georgia officials.
With nearly two million requests since Oct. 1, 2007, Georgia has made far more social security number verification requests than any other state, according to the Social Security Administration. Alabama was second with about one million requests.
Helen Butler, of the independent Georgia Coalition for the Peoples' Agenda, said she would like an explanation why the number of requests far exceeds the number of newly registered Georgia voters.
"We certainly will be following this very closely because we want to make sure the process is being carried out correctly," said Butler, whose advocacy group educates voters.
Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Rob Simms said Tuesday that Astrue's letter arrived a day earlier and it was the first time state officials were alerted to an unusually high number of requests.
"At this point today, I would dispute those figures," Simms said in a phone interview.
By Monday's deadline, Georgia registered just over 406,000 new voters this year for the Nov. 4 election, said Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.
Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman attributed the high number of verification requests to the large number of people registering to vote. Alabama residents have until 10 days before the ballot to register.
"We have had a record number of people register to vote ... If that's increasing the number of times the Social Security Administration is having to check numbers that's an excellent problem to have, and it means more people are involved in democracy," Chapman said.
Because of the letter, Chapman said she is asking voter registrars to first check drivers' licenses whenever possible.
Gary Bartlett, director of North Carolina's State Board of Elections, said the Social Security Administration was questioning why the state has had almost 400,000 social security validations for the year. But the state also has had some 700,000 voter registrations ahead of Friday's deadline.
While drivers' license are used to verify many voters, Bartlett said North Carolina's large military and college communities could be registering with out-of-state licenses. He said others may have used social security numbers as the easiest to remember.
Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, many states have an agreement with the Social Security Administration requiring them to submit the last four digits of a new voter's social security number for verification if the person does not have a valid state-issued ID such as a license.
"Rest assured, we think this is just absolutely off-base," Bartlett said.
Astrue wants the six states that received the letters to make sure their officials are verifying only those new voters who don't have acceptable state-issued identification, in line with their agreements with the agency, Social Security Administration spokesman Mark Lassiter said Tuesday by phone.