COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Kootenai County in northern Idaho is making an effort to verify every voter registration in the county.
County Clerk Cliff Hayes said that means checking up on about 68,000 registered voters.
"It's a big deal, obviously, because now we (the county) run all county elections, regardless of city, fire district or what," Hayes told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "I think the voter registration, it needs to be validated."
He said workers are aiming to do 25 random checks a week but so far are exceeding that number.
"It's too early to tell how long it's going to take," he said. "But we are not going to complete this project this year, I'll tell you that."
Hayes said he started the verification to hold high standards but also because of an election challenge in 2009 that found some individuals voting under fraudulent addresses.
"Who could say if all of them were caught? No one could," he said. "If (their registration) is not valid, they should not be entitled to a vote. It would skew the election results if they were voting."
Commissioner Todd Tondee said the effort could help prevent voter fraud.
"That's part of his task (as clerk)," Tondee said. "With the verification of the people voting, I think that that would help."
Hayes said workers are verifying voter registrations by comparing addresses on a voter's registration form to the address on a driver's licenses. He said about 30 percent of the 3,000 checked so far don't match.
But he said that sometimes is because driver's licenses shows a mailing addresses and not a residence. Still, when the two don't match, the staff investigates.
"There's a lot of possibilities," said Hayes. "You can send a letter, you can make a phone call. Maybe you know the person. You have to just use the basic resources to figure out if they live there."
Sometimes a worker drives out to confirm if residences exists.
For absentee voters, Hayes said, the office sends a letter asking the voter to verify their registration. If there's no reply, a second letter is mailed saying their registration will be canceled within 20 days if they don't respond.
"It's not a big deal," Hayes said. "If they fail to comply with notifying us they can re-register fairly easily."