Jan. 23, 2005

Reports of felon voting taken seriously

This week, elections officials in King County will forward information on potential felons who voted in the General Election, which was highlighted in news reports over the weekend, to the King County Prosecuting Attorney for review.

In 2004, more than 600 registrations were canceled in King County as a result of felony convictions. State law requires elections officials to cancel a voter's registration when notified by the courts of a felony conviction. These reports are mailed weekly to the King County Elections Office from the Superior Court. The reports are checked against the voter rolls and registrations are canceled when matched with information provided on the conviction reports.

“King County takes seriously any attempts to violate state election law,” said Dean Logan, director of Records, Elections and Licensing Services. “We encourage any individual or organization with information regarding illegal voter registration or voting to turn that information over to law enforcement for review and investigation.”

State law prohibits felons from registering and voting in an election until they have completed their legal and financial obligations to the court. A convicted felon who knowingly violates that law is guilty of a Class C felony.

Tracking felons statewide will be streamlined in 2006 when the state implements a statewide voter registration database as required by the federal Help America Vote Act. With a single state database of registered voters, cross matching voter records with felon databases maintained by the Department of Corrections and the courts will allow for tracking not currently available.

Logan cautioned that while reports of felon voting must be taken seriously, efforts to purge records from voter registration rolls must be balanced to ensure that valid, eligible citizens are not wrongly denied their right to vote. “Both state and federal laws make it very clear that access to voter registration and voting is the paramount duty of election administrators. Safeguarding the legitimacy and maintaining the accuracy of those records is a shared responsibility between government and the electorate.”

Updated: Jan. 23, 2005

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