Double Voting Becomes an Issue in N.C.

The committee's investigation prompted the N.C. State Board of Elections to look into the issue.

"We will be putting investigators on these people," said Don Wright, general counsel for the SBOE.

Double voting, a felony in the United States, occurs when people move out of one state and into another but still vote in both.

"Sometimes people move to a new location and don't bother to re-register," Wright said. "Other times they will re-register but their new location won't send us cancelation cards alerting us."

State election officials detect double voting using a cross-checking computer system that compares the birth dates and the first, middle and last names of all voters to check for similarities.

But people's names that appear in cross-check might not have double voted, Wright said.

"With 4 million active voters, chances are good that people might have the same name and birthday," he said.

Though double voting is a federal felony, Wright said election officials often don't prosecute because investigations often reveal that voters simply have made a mistake. Officials are hesitant to prosecute if money or malicious intent are not involved, he said.

"Generally, we don't find people with criminal attitudes about voting," Wright said. "I'm not trying to downgrade double voting, but it's not like every voter is doing it. However, we are committed to investigating."

He said that of the more than 100 million citizens who voted in the 2000 national election, 3,273 people voted in two states.

Because only 96 people double voted in the most recent N.C. election, UNC political science Professor Thad Beyle said he does not think those votes had much of an effect.

"If this is indicative of more double voting then it could be (significant)," Beyle said. "But 96 voters aren't going to do much."

Beyle said a double voting often is the fault of a person's employer.

"In the U.S., people often aren't taken off payrolls, so information given to election officials is inaccurate," he said.

A pending bill in the U.S. Congress titled "Help America Vote" establishes a central database for voter records to decrease the chances of double voting.

A state law passed by the N.C. General Assembly in October will eliminate double voting between counties.

Wright said the federal legislation has a good chance of being enacted as well.

"If this bill passes the (U.S. Congress), President Bush has already agreed to pass it," Wright said. "However, N.C. already has this database, so we're already ahead of the game."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.