East St. Louis: More Voters Registered Than Citizens That Live There

It is a particular problem with our voter registration systems across the USA that the voting roles are so filled with ineligible names that we aren't sure how many voters really live in any particular district. East St. Louis is no different.

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In fact, East St. Louis seems to have more voters registered in its district than it even has voting population.

According to the 2010 Census, East St. Louis had a total population of 27,006. The population for those 18 and over, or those eligible to vote, was 19,098. With 22,000 registered voters, it seems to be a numerical impossibility for East St. Louis’ Board of Elections to have an accurate or legal list of register voters.

Now there is already a federal law on the books that is supposed to prevent this from happening. It is section 8 of the Motor Voter Act. That section is supposed to require that each state makes sure that its voter rolls are cleared every year of ineligible voters. Whether the voter has moved, has passed away, has gone to jail or what have you, these ineligible voters are supposed to be cleared off the rolls. Unfortunately, not once has the states been forced to undertake this move to assure that their voter rolls are true and clear of ineligible voters and fraud. Earlier this year I spoke with J. Christian Adams and he told me that it would take about $10,000 to bring such a lawsuit to the courts to try and force a state to satisfy section 8 of the Motor Voter law. So that is one problem, for sure. If our actual lawmakers — whether in congress or back in the states — aren't going to uphold the law, the price for interested parties to force the matter are high. East St. Louis is not alone with this problem. It is a problem all across the nation. (Hat Tip Doug Welch of StixBlog.com)