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Bluffton, Ind.

Aug. 3, 2005

By Sarah Pulliam
Stacks of postcards lay on a table at the Wells County Clerk’s office.
Tiffany Gentis, 17, sat at the table and thumbed through 10,060 postcards to put them in alphabetical order.
Gentis is a part-time employee at the courthouse but her job won’t be as time consuming because more than 6,000 Wells County voters didn’t respond to a May mailing.
Of the 21,200 postcards that officialsmailed May 26 to verify voter registration, 50 percent were returned because voters verified or updated their addresses while 50 percent were undeliverable or not returned by the Aug. 1 deadline.
“I thought it might be more like 60/40 percent but not 50,” said Wells County Clerk Beth Davis.
Voter registration clerk Janet Double is purging the records of people who have died or moved and placing other voters who failed to return their postcards on inactive status.
Thirty percent of the postcards were not returned.
“We would’ve like to have 100 percent returned but that wouldn’t be realistic,” Davis said.
Voters placed on inactive status must vote in the next two elections before their status will be purged after the 2008 election.
Voters who did not receive or return their postcards can contact the clerk’s office at 824-6497 to be placed on active status.
The precinct where residents vote at the Community Christian School had the highest rate of postcards not returned at 41 percent. Precinct voting at Southern Wells School was the second highest not returned rate with 35 percent.
Residents who vote at Bluffton-Harrison Elementary School and Bluffton Middle School precincts scored the highest return rate at 62 percent.
Part-time employees are alphabetizing returned postcards before sending the current voter registration cards to the State Election division where the registration will be scanned and returned to the clerk’s office.
There are 21,182 registered voters in the county, according to Davis.
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 guessed the number will decrease to about 12,000 after purging records.
Purging the records will increase the voter percentage and decrease risk of fraud. Davis said it’s been at least 10 years since the last purge took place.
“It was worth it because we were able to get more realistic numbers for the size of our county,” Davis said. “By the end of this month, we’ll be done with the postcards.”
The clerk’s office spent approximately $11,450 for printing the postcards and postage, according to Davis.
Indiana is moving to a statewide voter registration by Jan. 1, 2006, as a result of Help America Vote Act.
Wells County residents can register to vote at the clerk’s office, Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the State Election Division or on the secretary of state’s Web site.