LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It’s just an election notification postcard – until it comes back marked “undeliverable.” Then, according to the Michigan Fair Elections Institute (MFEI), it becomes something much more important: a potential warning that a voter registration may no longer be accurate.
The MFEI is urging election officials not to treat returned early-voting postcards that are being sent out as just another piece of junk mail. Instead, the group says the postcards can serve as evidence that a voter may no longer live at the address where they’re registered.
More than just returned mail.
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According to the organization, returned election postcards are an important part of Michigan’s voter list maintenance process. State guidance instructs clerks to use undeliverable election mail to determine whether a voter should be placed into the address confirmation process, while the state’s records retention schedule requires returned voter information records to be kept until the Qualified Voter File (QVF) has been updated and a confirmation notice has been mailed.
A returned postcard does not automatically remove anyone from the voter rolls, but it should trigger the legally required steps to verify whether the voter has moved and whether the registration should eventually be updated.
Keeping the rolls current.
MFEI argues that discarding the postcards instead of preserving them eliminates documentation that could be used to maintain accurate voter rolls.
Whether clerks are faithfully preserving those postcards – and whether they are using them as the law intends – are questions that deserve closer scrutiny. After all, if election officials are serious about keeping voter rolls current, throwing away evidence that someone may no longer live where they’re registered seems like an odd place to start.
Undeliverable mail triggers a process.
Michigan law and Secretary of State guidance require clerks to do more than simply note that election mail came back undeliverable.
When election mail is returned undeliverable, clerks must review the voter’s record in the QVF. If appropriate, they change the voter’s status to “Verify” and send a forwardable address confirmation notice. Clerks are responsible for ensuring this status update occurs.
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After a confirmation notice is sent, the voter remains eligible to vote. If the voter neither responds to the notice nor has any voting activity over the next two federal general election cycles, the voter registration may then be cancelled in accordance with Michigan law.
The process matters.
Patrice Johnson, Founder and Chair of MFEI and Pure Integrity Michigan Elections, says, “Maintaining accurate voter registration records is an ongoing responsibility. Consistent application of Michigan’s existing statutory procedures helps ensure voter rolls remain current while preserving every eligible voter’s opportunity to maintain an active registration.”
The bottom line.
No one is arguing that a returned postcard should automatically cancel a voter registration. The law provides a lengthy verification process before that can happen. But if returned election notices are ignored or discarded instead of being used to begin that process, critics say an important safeguard for maintaining accurate voter rolls is lost before it ever has a chance to work.
