OFFICIAL MASS CANCELLATION OF SUSPENSE RECORDS 11302018 Suspense

OFFICIAL MASS CANCELLATION OF SUSPENSE RECORDS 11/30/2018

Suspense List TEC § 15. 081 The Voter Registrar shall maintain a suspense list containing the name of each voter: • Whose renewal certificate is returned to the registrar. (TEC Subchapter B, § 14) • Who fails to submit response to an Address Confirmation Notice. (TEC § 15. 053) • Who appears on the list of nonresidents of the county. (TGC § 62. 114) 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 2

Suspense List • Sec. 15. 051. CONFIRMATION NOTICE. (a) If the registrar has reason to believe that a voter's current residence is different from that indicated on the registration records, the registrar shall deliver to the voter a written confirmation notice requesting confirmation of the voter's current residence. 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 3

“Reasons to Believe” Built Into Election Code Some reasons for sending a Notice of Address Confirmation shown above, but not limited to Returned Voter’s Certificate, List of Non-Residents by Clerk of the Court, Possible Duplicate, Alternate Addresses, Use of Business Address as residential address.

Cancellation of Suspense Records Administration of Voter Registration of the Federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), 42 U. S. C. A. §§ 1973 gg et seq Passed in 1993, a State can only remove the name of a person from the voter registration list on grounds of change of residence upon: 1) the voter’s written first-hand confirmation of a change of address to a location outside of the registrar’s jurisdiction, or 2) reliable secondhand information indicating a change of address outside of the jurisdiction from a source such as the NCOA program, or a general mailing to all voters, plus the subsequent failure of the person to respond to a specific forwardable confirmation mailing sent by the State and the failure of the person to vote or appear to vote during the period ending on the day after the second federal general election subsequent to the confirmation notice being sent. See specifically Id. § 1973 gg– 6 (b), (c) & (d). 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 5

Cancellation of Suspense Records TEC § 16. 032 Cancellation following end of suspense list period. If on November 30 following the second general election for state and county officers that occurs after the date the voter’s name is entered on the suspense list a registered voter’s name appears on the suspense list, the registrar shall cancel the voter’s registration unless the name is to be deleted from the list under Section 15. 023. TEC § 15. 023 Time for certain deletions from suspense list. If the name of the voter whose residence is changed on the registration records to another county election precinct in the same county appears on the suspense list, the voters name shall be deleted from the list on the date the voters’ registration in the precinct of new residence becomes effective. 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 6

Mass Cancellation Dates A voter placed on the Suspense List between the dates listed below are eligible to be cancelled on the corresponding cancellation date. On Suspense BEFORE • 10/07/2014 • 10/12/2016 • 10/10/2018 • 10/06/2020 • 10/12/2022 • 10/08/2024 • 10/06/2026 11/25/2020 To be Cancelled on • November 30, 2016 • November 30, 2018 • November 30, 2020 • November 30, 2022 • November 30, 2024 • November 30, 2026 • November 30, 2028 Texas Secretary of State Elections 8

Suspense Records to be Cancelled • Voters placed on the Suspense List BEFORE October 12, 2016. • Mass Cancellation cannot take place prior to November 30, 2018. • Offline counties will import their cancellations. • SOS will conduct the 2018 mass cancellations for online counties (county to notify SOS). 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 9

High Level Overview of Steps 1. Complete required work BEFORE looking at Cancellations a. Election follow-up b. Suspense Voter Activity (-Voting Activity Only). Send a 2 nd Notice of Address Confirmation to update these people’s Suspense Dates. c. Suspense Voter Activity (-Changes Only). Update records as needed. 2. Run ‘Suspense to Cancel’ report and confirm voters on list to be cancelled 3. Notify SOS when ready to complete Cancellations; for Offline Counties – send Cancellation file. 4. Run ‘Mass-Cancelled’ voters and confirm the same number of voter records were cancelled. 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 10

Work Before the Cancellation 1 a. • Enter all voting history. • Process all Statement of Residence forms, Provisional Ballots & Limited Ballots from the November 8, 2016 General Election. • Register voters submitting a completed FPCA after the deadline for voting in the November Election. Run (and work) the following 2 reports in this order: • 1 b. Suspense Voter Activity (select ‘w/Voting Activity Only’) • 1 c. Suspense Voter Activity (select ‘w/Changes Only’) 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 11

42 U. S. C. A. (NVRA) §§ 1973 gg 1 b. Suspense Voter Activity report select Voting Activity Only 11/25/2020 • It lists suspense voters that voted AFTER being placed on Suspense. The ‘V’ code stands for ‘Voted’. • Send these voters a 2 nd Notice of Address Confirmation; this correctly updates their Suspense date. Texas Secretary of State Elections 12

Send a 2 nd Notice of Address Confirmation If a person has voted after being placed on Suspense, federal law prevents the removal of this voter from the voter rolls due to the sequence of events that have occurred. In order to place the Suspense Voter who voted after being placed on Suspense (but for whom the registrar did not receive an updated application or Statement of Residence) back in the proper order, the registrar would be required to reissue a Notice of Address Confirmation to the voter; thereby updating the voter’s Suspense date to be after the date in which the voter last voted.

1 c. Suspense Voter Activity report select Changes Only 11/25/2020 • It lists records with any type of change applied AFTER being placed on Suspense. • Investigate whether the change was initiated by the voter – i. e. Statement of Residence, Voter Registration Application or Limited Ballot Application. • If it was, change the record to Active. • If the change was clerical, then no update to the voter record is needed. Texas Secretary of State Elections 14

Suspense to Cancel • Provides list of voters eligible to be cancelled. • Enter 10/12/2016 in the Suspense to Cancel “As of Date” field • Sort by Name or VUID number • Download report and verify that all voters listed should be cancelled • Once you verify that all persons listed should be cancelled, notify the state office that you are ready for your mass cancellation. 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 15

Offline Counties Submit all voters cancelled from your suspense list on your daily updates with the following: ücancellation transaction code “ 60”. ücancellation date of 11/30/18 üvoter status of “C”. üRemember all cancellations should be submitted with the entire record’s information. 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 16

SOS processes the Mass Cancellation • The State will notify the county when their suspense mass cancellation has been completed. • Once you receive SOS’s notification, Run the “Suspense – Mass Cancelled” report. • It displays voters that were cancelled from the suspense list. • Use it as reference list for moving cancelled voters’ records from your ‘active’ file into your ‘inactive’ file. 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 17

Inactive Voters • Section 13. 102 & Sec. 1. 013 • Must be maintained in a separate file marked “INACTIVE”. • Keep all records pertaining to the voters. • File retention is 2 years from the cancellation date. • After 2 years, all records can be destroyed, burned, or shredded in accordance with your county’s record retention policy. 11/25/2020 Texas Secretary of State Elections 18