Secure the Vote Maryland Presentation to Frederick County Board of Elections 6.11.25
LIVE Stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNT-DwhMR9Q&t=714s Start at 22:00 Minutes
Thank you for allowing myself and others to speak today. As we gather here today, we have previously commented on the state of Frederick County’s voter rolls and would like to provide the board with another update. As you are likely aware, the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) tasks state and local boards of elections with maintaining clean and accurate voter rolls. This is a critical prerequisite to conducting fair and accurate elections, which form the backbone of our democracy.
Unfortunately, Maryland’s and Frederick County’s voter rolls continue to fall short of this standard. Under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), states are required to maintain accurate and up-to-date voter registration lists. Maryland as a whole, and Frederick county specifically show clear violations of the NVRA, with inflated rolls and active registrants close to exceeding the county’s eligible population.
These violations can be broken down into several categories, the most significant of which include moved voters, deceased voters, and duplicate voters. According to the National Change of Address (NCOA) registry, which is a key source from which ERIC (Electronic Registration Election Center) FAQ – ERIC, Inc. pulls updated voter information, Maryland has 129,261 total registrants who have moved out of state and 19,167 of these are listed as active voters. Of these registrants, 7,976 are registered in Frederick County, with 1029 listed as active.
Furthermore, Maryland has at least 1,348 deceased registrants on the rolls, 79 of which are registered in Frederick County. We have previously presented a list of these registrants with links to obituaries from funeral homes, but it appears that no action has been taken.
Lastly, there are at least 101 duplicate registrants in Maryland, with at least 3 in Frederick County.
We understand that the board will only accept obituaries from newspapers or funeral homes when considering the initiation of the removal of a deceased registrant. However, we did indeed provide links to this documentation for a number of the deceased we presented ahead of the 2024 election. Additionally, several deceased registrants still appearing on the rolls may have passed away out of state. If this is the case, and if the registrant has passed away too long ago for their information to still be locatable in a local newspaper, what actions can be taken to ensure the removal of these registrants? The Board of Elections must have a process for identifying and removing those registrants who pass away out of state.
Regarding moved voters, there is no excuse for any board in Maryland to not maintain up to date registrations. We understand that Maryland uses ERIC to track moved voters. However, we also understand that ERIC is not in use by West Virginia or Virginia, which are two of the most common states for Marylanders to move to. The state and local boards must therefore have a mechanism of communicating with these states to track and remove those relocated voters as appropriate. Additionally, as previously mentioned, ERIC uses the National Change of Address (NCOA) as a primary source for identifying moved voters. As the NCOA does show thousands of moved voters still active on our rolls, it does not appear that ERIC is serving its purpose. Local boards must therefore implement procedures that will enable better tracking of these registrants to be compliant with the NVRA.
The lack of effective roll maintenance procedures has led to Frederick County having an active voter registration rate of 95.34% of the eligible population – 20% higher than the national average of 75.6%. It is hard to believe that this is simply because Frederick County residents are that more enthusiastic about elections than anyone else in the country. Only 91% of eligible individuals even have driver’s licenses – are we supposed to believe that people register to vote at a higher rate than they learn to drive?
As this board is likely aware, compliance with the National Voter Registration Act is a key part of President Trump’s recent executive order on election integrity. The courts have not struck down any provisions of this order regarding the maintenance of clean and accurate voter rolls, and are unlikely to do so as they are codified legislatively by the NVRA. It is our understanding that Frederick County has previously received Federal grants to help fund its operation – is grant money in jeopardy if Frederick County does not comply before the 2026 election cycle?
The new Executive Order also forbids the counting of ballots after Election Day and the use of drop boxes for ballot collection. We urge the board to comply with these provisions to secure its funding ahead of the next election, and to prove to Frederick County residents that our county supports secure, accurate, and fair elections.
