Voter concerns

This letter is written by a concerned citizen and it is not intended to be a political statement. I am neither Democrat nor Republican. I have chosen to register to vote as NPP (No Party Preference). As with all Americans who believe in the Democratic process, elections should represent the will of the people and each vote should be cast only by the actual person submitting a ballot.

I voted in the 2012 election and gave my name as usual to the person in charge of distributing the ballots. I stated my name, Gary Vix. Pointing down at his registered voter list, the poll worker asked me, Harry Vix? That's my father's name. I informed the poll worker that my father had passed away back in 2003.

My mother, Lenore Vix, who died in 2000 was also still on the voting roster. The poll worker was made aware of the obvious errors and I was told that a notation would be made informing the Registrar of Voters to update the roll. I assumed all was well in San Diego County "election land."

Fast forward to the most recent election held in September 2021. In-person voting was held at the Fallbrook Community Center. The poll worker was asked to check on the voting status of my parents. That information could not be accessed; however I was given a special phone number for the County Registrar's Office.

The next day, I telephoned and surprisingly a person named Joe answered after only three rings. He was most helpful saying he needed a few minutes to look up the information regarding my parents' registration status. Within a few minutes he came back on the line and provided some good news and, some bad news.

First, the good news. The names of my parents had indeed been removed from the voter rolls. Now, the bad news. Their names were removed in 2017. Why the delay which could provide the potential for voter misuse since anyone arriving to vote in person or by mail-in ballot does not need to provide any identification.

The Social Security Administration and Medicare both removed my parents' names within days, if not hours of notification of my parents' respective deaths. It appears that San Diego County requires years to remove names from the election voter roll. How difficult can it be to remove a person from the voting list when the County of San Diego, in the case of my mother, issued the Certificate of Death? A few clicks of a computer mouse and the task would be completed.

How many other deceased individuals remain on the county voter rolls? Are my parents the only San Diego County deceased residents who had not been removed in a timely manner? If asked, I am certain the County Registrar would claim that my parents' names "fell through the cracks" or there is lack of sufficient funding for staffing or some other lame excuse. There would then be a statement something like this "...but rest assured, there are no names of deceased individuals still on the rolls." Supposedly, names are removed if there is no voter activity for two (2) election cycles. That rule also didn't kick-in for my parents since more than 2-elections passed between their deaths and 2017. Or did they vote from the grave?

Again, this is not written with the intention of promoting any political viewpoint. Nearly every week, letters appear in the Village News that are excessively-long and/or so overtly political in nature that I personally don't bother to read them. The content can be determined just reading the name of the writer at the end of the letter. The purpose of this missive is to inform other patriotic Americans of what I view as a correctable flaw in our election process.

U.S. citizens, at the very least, deserve an election system free of bureaucratic incompetence which can contribute to elections that lack integrity. Virtually every United States of America citizen who is eligible to vote has a Birth Certificate or a Certificate of Naturalization which would establish that individuals right to participate in the franchise process.

We, as patriotic Americans, expect that all cast ballots reflect the position of the eligible voter. I believe we must insist that our election officials remove all deceased and other unqualified registered voters from the voter rolls. In my opinion, accurate voter rolls containing only the names of eligible voters is not too much to expect.

Gary Vix