HARRISBURG (AP) — Nearly one-third of the state's counties are breaking Pennsylvania voter registration laws by not conducting address checks so that rolls can be updated with current information, according to a joint legislative watchdog committee.
The result: the names of dead people who moved just prior to their death may still be registered in many places and some people may be listed as voters in two counties.
Monroe County is apparently not one of the offenders.
"We do a national change of address check every year, and we did ours the beginning of January," said Monroe County Voter Registration Director Gail Borger.
Some legislators on the Budget and Finance Committee, which is composed of six senators and six representatives, said the committee's recent audit of the voter registration process revealed practices that are an "open invitation for fraud."
"When you have this kind of process and there are no clear checks being made, you're left with the potential for fraud," said Rep. Robert Godshall, R-Montgomery. "And you certainly don't have a clear way to defend against it."
Philip Durgin, executive director of the committee, would not release which 20 counties were violating state law, calling the information "confidential."
The audit, which was released this week, found that counties do not want to pay for the annual address checks, which cost thousands of dollars.
The 1995 Pennsylvania Voter Registration Act requires counties to mail a letter to residents so they can confirm their addresses.
Committee member Rep. David Levdansky, D-Allegheny, said the current situation is unacceptable.
Pennsylvania Department of State officials, who oversee the administration of the state's voter registration law, said the law does not give them authority to take action against counties delinquent on their address checks.