RD164 - Special Report: Review of Selected Issues in the Virginia Election and Registration Information System


Executive Summary:
At the request of the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, in early 2008 JLARC staff reviewed two specific issues involving the design and use of the Virginia Election and Registration Information System (VERIS) that had been identified by the Voter Registrars Association of Virginia (VRAV). The State Board of Elections (SBE) operates VERIS, which is used by the registrar in each locality.

The first issue identified by VRAV was the use of the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) address database to verify the accuracy of information entered into VERIS. There are known errors in the USPS data, and VRAV asserts that these errors could disenfranchise some voters. Although the number of errors has affected only 1.7 percent of all voters, JLARC staff recommend that SBE modify VERIS to reduce errors and that local governments inform the USPS of known errors.

The second issue involves duplication of Social Security numbers (SSN) in VERIS. More than one voter record can have the same SSN, and VRAV asserts that the lack of a unique SSN for every record could lead to election fraud. Although duplicated SSNs affect only 0.03 percent of voters, JLARC staff recommend that SBE modify VERIS to reduce duplication.

Other recommendations made concern staff training and the use of automatic procedures to accommodate the use of temporary staff during election.