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Bluffton, Ind.
May 28, 2005

By Sarah Pulliam
Efforts to begin purging election records continued as 21,200 postcards were mailed Thursday.
“It’s probably been at least 10 years since we’ve done any kind of purge,” said Wells County Clerk Beth Davis.
Davis worked with seven deputies to double stamp, double label and fold the postcards.
“We’re just glad to have this done,” Davis said. “It took a lot of work. We’re exhausted.”
The county clerk’s office spent approximately $11,450 for the cost of printing the postcards and postage, according to Davis.
Davis said there are more than 21,000 registered voters in the county.
In a county of 27,600 residents with 8,294 people under 19 years of age listed in the 2000 Census, the election office allows for more registered voters than possible.
Davis said that by having many registered voters, it reduces the voter percentage.
“Without a purge, your voter poll counts continue to rise and you can’t get accurate counts,” she said.
Davis also said having registered voters who are not accounted for increases the risk of election fraud.
“We’ve never prosecuted anyone for election fraud,” she said. “It could happen anywhere but in our small county we don’t see it.”
Davis hopes to purge the records of people who have died or moved.
“The state election board brought it to our attention last September,” Davis said. “We just hope everyone responds so we can get the purging done.”
Indiana is moving to a statewide voter registration by Jan. 1, 2006 as a result of the Help America Vote Act passed in 2002 by Congress.
The clerk’s office will send the current voter registration cards to the State Election division in the fall where the registration will be scanned and returned to the clerk’s office.
Wells County will not send postcards again but will continue to keep records of the county.
“The new state system was put in place so each state would have one vendor for the entire state,” Davis said. “This new system does not take over any of the responsibility of the county clerks when to comes to voter registration, it is just suppose to make everything more uniformed and hopefully easier.”
Dianna Huffman who is the voter registration clerk will work to purge the records after she receives postcards.
“She’ll be pretty busy,” Davis said. “That’s why we want to do it on a non-election year — so we can get it done.”
Each postcard contains pre-paid postage and must be signed and returned by Aug. 1 for a voter to remain active.
If voters do not return the postcard, they will be put on inactive status. Voters on inactive status must vote during the 2005, 2006, 2007 or 2008 election or confirm registration with the county voter registration office.
Voter registrations on inactive status will be canceled after the 2008 election. Davis said residents who registered to vote after May 1 will not receive a postcard. Anyone who does not receive a postcard can contact the clerk’s office.
The postcards are to verify whether the address listed is the voter’s current address, previous address or whether the voter never lived at the address. They also confirm that the voter is a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old and request a current telephone number. The postcards contain spaces for a name change or an address change.
Davis said members of the election board Roy Johnson and Charles “Skeet” Decker aided with the purging efforts along with her deputies Nancy Dunwiddie, Dianna Huffman, Rhonda Gentis, Nicki Mills, LeaAnn Johnson, Lorraine Mettler and Deana Price.
Wells County residents can register to vote at the clerk’s office, Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the State Election Division or online from the secretary of state’s web site.