A government watchdog group has based its allegations of illegal voter rolls on Census numbers that are several years old, the clerk of Crawford County said on Friday.
Judicial Watch has sent letters to 11 states including Illinois accusing them of having counties with more registered voters than voting-age residents. The group charged 24 counties in Illinois with such illegal recordkeeping and said that it would consider filing a lawsuit if the voter rolls are not rectified.
But Faylene Wright told the East Central Reporter that Crawford County numbers are verified by the State Board of Elections.
“Our county is in good standing,” she said.
Wright said the county has 13,121 voters, which represents 83 percent of its voting age population.
As for ongoing efforts to keep voter registration rolls accurate, Wright said the county is dedicated to maintaining best practices.
“Somebody works on voter registration every day,” she said, citing a purge of records in 2015 and another purge planned for June.
Wright also said voters who have moved out of state or otherwise become ineligible are removed from the rolls.
“They are not counted,” Wright said.
Wright said Judicial Watch's press released indicated it is basing its figures on old Census data.
Judicial Watch spokesperson Robert Popper told the East Central Reporter that municipalities are welcome to provide updated information showing they are not in violation of voting rules.
“We’re happy to take anything that they want to give us,” Popper said, adding that a study by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in July will reveal whether individual counties are doing a good job of keeping voter rolls accurate.
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