Foreclosures to Affect Voters Registration List

July 13th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosures

Nationwide home foreclosures are going to deal a crushing blow when Ohio will try to draw up a voters list for the up coming President election. The residents have abandoned their homes but are still registered at the addresses in the states that are bound to affect themselves as well. They are likely to face pre-poll verification of proof of residence and find trouble getting to their polling booths. In all probability they may have to cast provisional ballots that may be rejected.

Mr. Daniel Tokaji, a law professor at the Ohio State University specializing on elections, is of the view that home foreclosures are the prime factor to have caused the increased percentage in provisional votes. In the last elections, Ohio had provided a colossal 118,000 electoral votes that subsequently led President Bush to victory. Mr. Daniel affirmed that foreclosures would affect voting list and it was a matter of grave concern. It was time for the state to sit up and take note of it.

The Franklin County Board of Elections and the city code enforcement office had recorded Columbus addresses as vacant which surprisingly now registers at an unbelievable 3700 voters! Figures indicate that 27,000 voters have informed a change of address to the concerned authority but have not yet filed for their voters registration. The deputy director of elections, Matthew Damschroder believes that the 25% rise in new registrations account for the residents who have suffered due to foreclosure home.

The onus of keeping voters registration updated rests on the residents of the county themselves. The home foreclosure issue has destabilized the entire system of voter registration information, the statistics of which is so vital in elections. The Board of Health in Franklin County sends the latest figures on deaths so that their names may be struck off from the voters list. Likewise registered voters who refrain to vote for eight years have their registrations cancelled automatically.

In Ohio, which plays a pivotal role in elections, voters are required to show their identification cards at the polling booths and so keeping registration information updated is an integral part of the entire process of elections. The republican party of Ohio challenged 31,000 voters on the basis that the letters mailed to them have been returned undelivered. Undoubtedly, states reeling under foreclosures have a Herculean task in reigning in the displaced residents and it is inevitable that the voter’s registration list is going to be affected.