D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) plans to spend $3 million to overhaul the city’s voter registration database, a file that is riddled with errors, including the names of deceased residents and thousands of voters whose births erroneously date to the 1800s, according to a recent audit. The move comes as President Trump launches a commission on “election integrity” to cut down on voter fraud, but city officials say that is a coincidence. “There is no connection. This decision was made well before President Trump’s election integrity commission,” Bowser spokesman Kevin Harris said Tuesday.
The mayor and members of the D.C. Council, many of whom announced Tuesday that they would back the effort, said they also have far different motives than those they perceive as propelling Trump’s commission.
The president’s board includes those who support strict voter ID laws, and the effort follows unsubstantiated claims Trump made shortly after taking office that more than 3 million undocumented immigrants voted illegally in November’s election. The commission is supposed to report next year on suspect election practices, with the accuracy of voter rolls expected to be an area of focus.
Full Article: D.C. to spend $3 million to get names of dead people, other errors off voter rolls – The Washington Post.