Errors plague voting rolls in University City

Hundreds of students are registeredHundreds of students are registeredto vote at their former addresses. City voting records list thousands of students registered to vote in today's election -- but many of the names on the rolls belong to those no longer living in local districts. Though University City has a transient population of students who graduate and move frequently, local voting records are not updated annually to accommodate those changes, possibly leaving people registered in districts long after they've moved. And the University City Republican Committee worries that this lapse in record-keeping may affect polling figures and hurt the party's chances for success by leaving an outlet for possible voter fraud. William Roper, the committee's chairperson, claims that the "Motor Voter" law, which registers people to vote when they apply for drivers' licenses, is the root of the problem. The law, which strictly prohibits the city's removal of inactive voters even with evidence of a voter's change in district, went into effect in Pennsylvania in 1995. The provision is meant to alleviate the hassle of re-registering area voters. But Sherry Swirsky, Pennsylvania counsel for Clinton/Gore '96, said Roper's assessment of Motor Voter is "wrong." In the years preceding 1995, Pennsylvania substantially cleaned up its voter registration lists, Swirsky said, adding that they are currently "quite accurate and up to date." Swirsky particularly praised the city's efforts in fixing the records. "Philadelphia has done a far better job than any of the other counties in Pennsylvania of updating the rolls," she said. Roper questioned the Democratic analysis of the situation, providing statistics that show that approximately one-fifth of Philadelphia's voters are listed under expired addresses. University City's voting rolls are padded by students listed twice under various addresses or who graduated in years past, Roper said. In reviewing a random sample of thousands of registered voters, The Daily Pennsylvanian found hundreds of names of on-campus voters no longer affiliated with the University. Before the Motor Voter law was instituted, the city was able to remove students from its roster who had not voted for five elections or who had clearly moved their places of residence. Though the rolls may contain more voters than they should, city officials discount fears of duplicate names. Bob Lee, a city elections administer, said the city's computer system efficiently controls duplication of voter registration. "Our system kicks [voters] out in 48 hours if they have the same first name, last name and date of birth," Lee said. He declined to comment further on Roper's allegations. Roper said the "corrupt" Philadelphian Democratic Party could easily send people to vote under the fraudulent names. He added that the inflated voter rolls could potentially skew statistical polls of Philadelphia. But Statistics Professor David Hildebrand said skewed data would only resonate "if pollsters are dumb enough to not realize this problem." Swirsky called the committee's study unfounded and threatened to take legal action if necessary.