Exclusive: New York GOPers Demand Elections Board Clean Up Voter Rolls Inflated By 3 Million Voters Missing ID Info

Victoria MarshallOctober 25, 2022

More than 3.1 million New York voter registrations are missing crucial personal identifiable information (PII), according to U.S. Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY 22nd District) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY 21stDistrict).

In a letter sent to the New York Board of Elections Tuesday, Tenney, who is the chair of the House Election Integrity Caucus, and Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, urged the board to come into compliance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), which prohibits states from accepting voter registrations without personally identifiable information.

According to a report by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), approximately 3.1 million New York voter registrations — 23% of New York’s voter roll — are missing any form of PII. Social Security and driver’s license/state ID numbers all constitute valid forms of PII.

“Collecting PII from registrants is a critical practice for voter roll maintenance and election integrity,” the letter states. “PII allows states to verify the identity of any given registrant. It also ensures states can accurately maintain voter rolls when individuals file duplicate registrations, move to different states, or pass away.”

According to PILF, the New York State Board of Elections seems to be an outlier for failing to record the PII of voter registrants, as “nearly every other state disclosed extremely low missing PII totals.” Are New Yorkers particularly shy about providing this information then, or are election officials just failing to accurately record such data?

It looks like the latter is true. From January 2019 to December 2020, 22,546 registrants without PII were added to New York’s voter rolls. And during this current cycle to date, 21,062 have been added.

As a remedy, PILF suggests the Empire State pass legislation similar to that of Florida, which established a procedure for the Florida DMV to share PII with the Florida voter rolls so they could be updated with any missing information. Tenney and Stefanik also encourage the board to follow PILF’s proposal.

“With the 2022 midterm elections rapidly approaching, we request a response no later than November 3, 2022, regarding your enforcement of HAVA §303(a) and how you will resolve New York’s noncompliance,” the Congresswomen finish.

Such a letter comes as polls show the New York governor’s race between Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Lee Zelden is tightening to uncomfortably (for Democrats) low single digits, meaning accurately maintained voter rolls are key to ensuring the integrity and security of New York’s elections — particularly for close contests like the governor’s race.

“The state should inform the public how it intends to correct nearly 3.1 million voter registrations that lack this personal information,” Tenney told The Federalist. “Improving voter roll maintenance is key to restoring faith in our elections.”

Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.