Flawed data flagged 7,730 people in Arkansas to be removed from voter rolls, a spokesman for the secretary of state said Friday. That data have caused headaches for county clerks, who have been left to work out what’s accurate. Some on the list are felons who have not yet taken the steps to regain their right to vote and must be kept off voter rolls, but others on the list have not committed a felony or have already had their rights restored. Interviews with a handful of county clerks show that they are removing only a fraction of those people. In Pulaski County — where nearly 2,000 of those named on the state’s list reside — about 20 percent will be removed after staff members investigated each person, said Jason Kennedy, assistant chief deputy of the clerk’s office.
The flawed data were sent to county clerks in June by the secretary of state’s office, in conjunction with the Arkansas Crime Information Center. The data were previously generated by Arkansas Community Correction, but when the Community Correction employee who normally processed the data died, updates lapsed.
After reading Amendment 51 to the Arkansas Constitution, Secretary of State Mark Martin’s office determined that it should request the information from the Arkansas Crime Information Center.
In Pulaski County, two people in the county clerk’s office normally review flags raised by Martin’s office in the voter database. Kennedy said 15 people have been involved — including employees from other offices — and they have been working overtime for weeks, checking into each person identified by the secretary of state’s office as potentially needing removal from voter rolls.
Full Article: Before flaws noted, Arkansas flagged 7,730 on voter list.