{"id":69613,"date":"2025-03-05T17:27:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T22:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?p=69613"},"modified":"2025-03-07T21:34:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T02:34:01","slug":"wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama’s secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen last week announced that a voter integrity database his office developed in 2023 has delivered \u201cmassive results,\u201d allowing him to remove hundreds of thousands of names from the state\u2019s voter file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A press release<\/a> from Allen\u2019s office claims the new system tallied up registered voters who were deceased, who\u2019d moved to other states or who potentially did not hold a driver\u2019s license or Social Security card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AVID, which replaced Alabama\u2019s Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, relies on cooperative agreements with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and seven nearby states<\/a>, which the office uses to cross-check information. The system also relies on the national change of address file maintained by the U.S. Postal Service and federal death data maintained by the Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen made the new system a key priority after entering office in January 2023, when he pledged to replace the state\u2019s outdated ERIC system. According to the release, AVID enabled Allen\u2019s office to remove almost 500,000 names from the state\u2019s voter file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFollowing our withdrawal from ERIC, my team and I worked hard to build an Alabama-based voter file maintenance system from the ground up,\u201d Allen said in the release. \u201c… When I came into office, Alabama\u2019s voter file was a bloated mess. Today, I am incredibly proud to showcase what happens when you roll up your sleeves and deliver results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to AVID\u2019s website, matches found with the Social Security Administration\u2019s death index lead to an automatic removal of the voter from the state\u2019s records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If matches are found via any of three other data sources \u2014 the state law enforcement agency, the national change of address file or records held by other states \u2014  Allen\u2019s office sends a postcard to the address on file requesting updated information and changes the voter\u2019s status to \u201cinactive.\u201d The state is required by federal law to wait four years before removing living voters from its files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen’s office did not respond to requests for additional information on how the system works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a new system developed by his office identified thousands of registered voters who are deceased, moved out of state or lack proper identification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":69614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_grayscale_images":true,"grayscale_contrast":0,"sponsored_content":false,"display_author_bio":true,"story_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4677],"tags":[25131,24995,24746,5152,1843,1284,1009],"people":[],"special-report":[],"authors":[4696],"class_list":["post-69613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state","tag-technology-news","tag-voter-registration","tag-government-it","tag-secretary-of-state","tag-technology","tag-alabama","tag-election-technology","author-colin-wood"],"yoast_head":"\nAlabama's secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file | StateScoop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a new system developed by his office identified thousands of registered voters who are deceased, moved out of state or lack proper identification.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alabama's secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file | StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a new system developed by his office identified thousands of registered voters who are deceased, moved out of state or lack proper identification.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-05T22:27:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-08T02:34:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"866\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colin Wood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/\",\"name\":\"Alabama's secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file | StateScoop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-05T22:27:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-08T02:34:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a new system developed by his office identified thousands of registered voters who are deceased, moved out of state or lack proper identification.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":866,\"caption\":\"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen testifies during a hearing before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee at Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong \/ Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"description\":\"Latest news and events in state and local government technology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png\",\"width\":1470,\"height\":186,\"caption\":\"StateScoop\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/State_Scoop\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/statescoop\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@StateScoop\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alabama's secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file | StateScoop","description":"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a new system developed by his office identified thousands of registered voters who are deceased, moved out of state or lack proper identification.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alabama's secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file | StateScoop","og_description":"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a new system developed by his office identified thousands of registered voters who are deceased, moved out of state or lack proper identification.","og_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/","og_site_name":"StateScoop","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/","article_published_time":"2025-03-05T22:27:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-08T02:34:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1300,"height":866,"url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colin Wood","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@State_Scoop","twitter_site":"@State_Scoop","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/","name":"Alabama's secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file | StateScoop","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-05T22:27:34+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-08T02:34:01+00:00","description":"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen says a new system developed by his office identified thousands of registered voters who are deceased, moved out of state or lack proper identification.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg","width":1300,"height":866,"caption":"Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen testifies during a hearing before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee at Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong \/ Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/","name":"StateScoop","description":"Latest news and events in state and local government technology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization","name":"StateScoop","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png","width":1470,"height":186,"caption":"StateScoop"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/","https:\/\/x.com\/State_Scoop","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/statescoop\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@StateScoop"]}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Alabama’s secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file","url":"http:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/statescoop.com\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg"},"articleSection":"State","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Colin Wood","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/author\/colin-wood\/"}],"creator":["Colin Wood"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"StateScoop","logo":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/cropped-ss_favicon.png"},"keywords":["alabama","election technology","government it","secretary of state","technology","technology news","voter registration"],"dateCreated":"2025-03-05T22:27:34Z","datePublished":"2025-03-05T22:27:34Z","dateModified":"2025-03-08T02:34:01Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Alabama’s secretary of state removed nearly 500,000 names from voter file\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wes-allen-alabama-voter-registration-avid\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"State\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Colin Wood\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/author\\\/colin-wood\\\/\"}],\"creator\":[\"Colin Wood\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/cropped-ss_favicon.png\"},\"keywords\":[\"alabama\",\"election technology\",\"government it\",\"secretary of state\",\"technology\",\"technology news\",\"voter registration\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2025-03-05T22:27:34Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-05T22:27:34Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-08T02:34:01Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/statescoop.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2079016899.jpg","distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"StateScoop","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69613"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69680,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69613\/revisions\/69680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69613"},{"taxonomy":"people","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people?post=69613"},{"taxonomy":"special-report","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/special-report?post=69613"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=69613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}