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Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kentucky’s State Board of Elections to compare voter files through the Alabama Voter Integrity Database.
This makes Kentucky the seventh state to collaborate with Alabama in the AVID system. Kentucky now joins Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Arkansas in signing these memorandums with the Secretary of State’s Office.
Alabama’s AVID replaced the Electronic Registration Information Center, which services 24 states and Washington D.C. At their roots, both programs aim to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls.
Allen promised to pull away from ERIC and create a new database while campaigning for Secretary of State. A year ago, Allen unveiled AVID.
“On the campaign trail, I promised that my first official act as Secretary of State would be withdrawing Alabama from ERIC, and I did just that. My team and I have worked incredibly hard to develop and implement an Alabama-based solution that delivers the cleanest and most accurate voter file in the country,” Allen said.
Allen’s AVID system utilizes similar components to ERIC: an agreement with the USPS National Change of Address File, access to federal social security death information, and state partnerships for cross-checking voter files to identify residents registered in multiple states.
The Secretary of State’s Office also works with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to identify voters who have drivers’ licenses or non-driver identification in another state.
The agreement between Alabama and each state indicates that the two parties will share electronic files containing each statewide voter registration data. The data will then be transferred using “industry standard encryption technology and with password protection.” The collected data is stored in Alabama on a server owned by the state.
When a match is found between the state’s voter rolls, they will only be immediately removed if a match is found on the Social Security Death Index. Otherwise, the voter registration will be marked as inactive.
If an Alabama resident is marked as inactive, they are still entitled to vote a regular ballot on Election Day if they are at the correct polling place. There is no consequence for being on the inactive list other than having to fill out a voter reidentification form before voting on a regular ballot.
