The Naked Voter - Fact and Fiction in Our Voter Rolls

If the rolls do not contain accurate information, elections that rely on voter rolls are open to question

As bad as the ballot conversions and machine intrusions into our elections are, they are only a part of the problems with our elections. Electronic voter databases, also known as voter registration systems or voter rolls, add a further layer of vulnerability. These voter rolls contain information on who is registered to vote, who has been removed from previous rolls, and on who might be temporarily suspended from voting. In those eight states that have universal vote by mail, the rolls determine who will be mailed ballots, and even which ballots will be accepted for processing. Many states allow some form of absentee voting, and the rolls are used there as well.

If the rolls do not contain accurate information, elections that rely on voter rolls are open to question. Unqualified or illegal voters may be allowed to vote if they are improperly included in the rolls. Legitimate voters may be blocked from having their votes counted if they are omitted from the rolls. Even worse, if non-existent or ghost voters are in the rolls, they can be used in conjunction with manufactured ballots in a process of vote assignment, where a created ballot is assigned to a fictional voter in the rolls.

Once a voter registration is inserted in the rolls, it is very difficult to remove. Removal requires significant investigation, and most officials are fearful of removing legitimate voters by mistake. It is easier to simply leave a questionable entry in place and assume it won't matter. Yet every improper registration in the rolls is an opportunity for a bad actor to assign fraudulent votes, thereby altering the outcome of an election.

Furthermore, since these voter roll databases are electronic and centralized, they have the same vulnerabilities of any other electronic database systems. Aside from direct manipulation, the creation of improper entries is a simple matter using existing methods for voter registration. Motor voter laws are intended to make voter registration easy by allowing people to register to vote at the same time they get a drivers license. Citizenship is required to legally register, but this is seldom checked or only superficially checked during registration. Consequently, many unqualified people are entered into the voter rolls through driver registrations.

Some states, including California, have online registration systems where someone can register to vote via the internet, and can be qualified to vote simply by mailing in a signature sample and "proof" of ID consisting of no more than a copy of a utility bill with their name and address. Did I mention Photoshop before? In fact, the entire process can be automated so that a properly programmed computer can generate any number of online registrations, complete with proof of eligibility, and create thousands of useful ghost voters in the rolls.

Voter registration drives with submission of fraudulent applications, while illegal, is often difficult to detect and prosecute. Consequently, adding fictional voters to voter rolls is often successful. Once in the rolls, they become available for use to support ballot injection manipulations. The only ones who know the voters are fictional are the ones who put them there and the ones they have told. Otherwise, it can take significant investigative effort to find them - more work than most officials are willing to make. The result is dirty rolls that support many forms of election fraud. Again, I have only touched the surface of the problems with electronic voter database systems.

Just as an example, investigations of California voter rolls suggests that over one-quarter of the registrations in the state rolls are from non-citizens and other unqualified parties. Many other registrations are for people who have moved out of jurisdiction, but who still have active registrations in county rolls. This does not even include direct manipulations of the rolls through inappropriate deletions, status changes, and others.

Again, these problems are not theoretical. Recent investigations show for example that in some jurisdictions, less than three-quarters of the voters who voted in the 2020 election are still in the rolls, even though only about six to eight percent moved away or died. The rest have been removed without legitimate explanation. Where did they go?

Conversely, as many as 25 to 30 percent new voters have been added to many rolls, far beyond the number that can be accounted for by normal means. Unless born of US citizens, people born outside the US must become naturalized citizens to legally register to vote. In the past five years, four to five times as many people born outside the US have registered to vote as have become eligible through naturalization. How does this happen?

In California, the voter rolls also record who voted in each election. They don't indicate who or what they voted for, just that they voted. Most other states have similar records. If you look at the voter rolls at the time the election was certified and add up all the voters who voted in an election, the totals frequently do not match the certified total votes. Why not? Were votes counted for voters who weren't in the voter rolls? Were voters and their votes removed from the rolls without proper cause?

Most states allow purchase of copies of voter rolls for various purposes, usually to support political campaigns, but for others as well. Once a copy is obtained, it is easy to see which voters have regular voting records, which ones haven't voted for years, which ones have been inactivated, and many other useful facts. Coupled with an online registration system, the information in the rolls can be used to create new registrations that will pass normal checks for validity. Legitimate residential addresses can be used, Names of real people are available and just a small change in birthdate or spelling creates a new person to register. People who have been cancelled from the active rolls because they moved away can be restored with little chance they will be detected. All these and more provide a nearly inexhaustible source of registrations that can be used for ballot assignment of manufactured ballots.

Just identifying the fictional voter roll entries is a massive undertaking beyond the ability of most election officials

As just one example, in major elections, about ten percent of the people who have never voted for years suddenly decide to vote, or at least have votes recorded for them. These are "voters" with registrations recorded many years previously, so they are not new voters who recently registered and have no history. Are they real voters who suddenly decided to exercise their franchise after years of not voting, or are they fictional voters - part of a reserve pool - used to hide the injection of fraudulent votes into an election?\

Just identifying the fictional voter roll entries is a massive undertaking beyond the ability of most election officials. Even if a fictional voter is identified, there is no way to find the ballot that was accepted for them and removing those choices from the totals. Currently, the only way to correct an election is to find and purge all fictional and otherwise illegal registrations and then hold the election over. As the British would say: "Not bloody likely!". Much easier to just accept the results and claim that the election was safe, secure, and free from fraud. Nothing to see here, all is well, just trust us.

If a current voter's information is used to create a registration in another jurisdiction, it is a form of identity theft. Votes can be cast in their name without them ever knowing until they are accused of double voting - a form of election fraud. Dirty voter rolls put innocent people in jeopardy of criminal prosecution.

As you might guess, there is much more I could write about the problems with our voter rolls. Other investigators have already published much information from their own investigations. Investigators have been showing election officials just how insecure, flawed, and corrupted their voter rolls and election systems are. There are many who don't want those rocks turned over. Too many don't even know there are any rocks. The public needs to know.

Even if we were to fix the problems with ballot image conversions, dirty voter rolls, and generally unreliable computer systems, we would still lack a critical piece necessary to address the kind of massive election fraud possible today

Many officials have been dismayed to learn just how broken their systems are, especially those who have made honest efforts to try to maintain secure and accurate systems. Most election officials are honest, dedicated workers who have been betrayed by the systems they are obliged to serve.

I have managed development projects for several years, and one of the most common objections I get is "We don't need to worry about that condition. It will never happen. No one will ever do that." Usually, whatever the condition was is one of the first things to happen. Our election systems were built assuming that they would never be misused and that the problems we observe now would never happen.

We have deeply flawed systems where it appears little thought was given to how they might be misused—at least by the developers and those who commissioned the systems. Those who have wished to gain power or harm our country have given considerable thought to how our systems can be misused, and have done so very effectively.

Given the current state of our knowledge of computer systems and the increasing presence of artificial intelligence and its use for malign purposes, it is doubtful that any electronic systems can deliver secure and accurate elections, even if all the systems were designed and built to the same standards as are used for life critical medical systems and for flight control systems for aircraft. Unfortunately, too many of our election systems resemble high school programming class projects.

Even if we were to fix the problems with ballot image conversions, dirty voter rolls, and generally unreliable computer systems, we would still lack a critical piece necessary to address the kind of massive election fraud possible today.