Maryland’s Board of Elections kept convicted felons on the state’s registration rolls after they should have been removed, according to a new audit.
The state’s independent auditing agency also found the elections board failed to report a $2 million budget shortfall, as well as more than two dozen other deficiencies — six of which were included in a 2006 audit.
In a written response to the audit, the elections board said its failure to report the shortfall was an “inadvertent omission and likely the result of a changeof personnel,” and promised never to do it again.
Elections officials said Maryland courts provide the board with a list of felons each month, and local boards are required to cancel those voters’ registration statuses. Between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2009, local boards removed nearly 800 felons from the registration rolls, Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone reported. But out of a randomly selected group of 22 felons, the auditing agency found that seven were still registered to vote.
Another problem — the board’s failure to keep all 24 local election boards adequately in line with registration laws — dates to 1995, and was noted in five previous audits.
Bruce Myers, the legislature’s chief auditor, said the elections board has not verified that its electronic voter registration database is properly secured.
“If you are registered to vote, that database has your name, address and possibly your Social Security number and [driver’s] license information,” Myers said.
The board hired a contractor to maintain the database, but has failed to perform an audit on the company — as is required in its contract.
“Without such an audit, [the board] is essentially relying on the contractor’s assertion that this critical database is secure and properly functioning,” the audit noted.
Elections officials said they solicited bids in 2007 to perform an audit, but received no offers and decided they didn’t have enough money to pay for the audit anyway.
Lax oversight of the registration database is how felons slip through the system and maintain voting status, Myers said.
Lamone said she does not have enough staff to provide the level of oversight the audit recommends, but said she is addressing each of the audit’s 14 findings, and the problems would not affectthe upcoming elections.
