The League of Women Voters of Tyler/Smith County, will be at UT Tyler, Tyler Junior College, Texas College, the Tyler Public Library and the Glass Recreation Center on Sept. 17 for National Voter Registration Day. (Tyler Morning Telegraph File)

The Smith County Elections Office says it works to ensure accurate voter rolls during elections.

Despite concerns about non-citizens and felons being registered, Smith County’s elections office confirmed that only eligible voters are approved after verifying their citizenship and identity.

First-time voters and eligible individuals had until Oct. 8 to register. As an Election Day nears, there are often claims that non-citizens or felons are being registered to vote, but the reality is different. Individuals themselves can’t register anyone, Volunteer Deputy Registrars (VDRs) can hand out applications, and collect completed forms, they don’t actually register voters.

Final approval always rests with the elections office, which verifies each application, said County Election Administrator Michelle Allcon. Individuals are not registered until after they go through checks to verify their citizenship status and their identity through the Secretary of State’s office.

“We enter those applications and they’re listed in our system as not registered, as pending,” Allcon said. “The state sends those to either [the Department of Public Safety] or the Social Security Administration … those agencies are required to verify the individual as a citizen, and verify that information.”

The name, driver’s license number and birth date must all match, or the name, birth date and Social Security number must match, confirming they all belong to the same person.

Some people have raised concerns about Gov. Greg Abbott’s voter roll laws, which they argue lead to eligible voters being removed from registration lists. Smith County does list maintenance on a daily basis, Allcon said.

The county elections office often sends out notices to people when they get information that someone with their name and birth date may have passed away, asking them to confirm whether they are still alive. If they don’t respond, they’re automatically removed from the voter rolls. If they do respond, that confirmation gets added to their record to show they’re still alive, Allcon said.

The same process applies to people with felony records or those who have moved out of the county. If a certification card gets returned as undeliverable, the office follows up to keep the voter rolls accurate.

“We have processes for that that we do on a daily basis to try to make sure our records are as up to date as possible,” Allcon said. “The bill that passed imposed sanctions, I guess you could call them, on counties that don’t do that.”

People with two last names or hyphenated names often create mismatches in the system, leading to a lot of kickbacks. This shows that officials are really checking the details, not just running everything through an automated system and calling it good. The high number of mismatches indicates they’re actively working to ensure all the information lines up.

When mismatches occur, the elections office sends a notice to the voter. The voter has a limited timeframe — typically 10 days — to respond with an updated application or proof of citizenship or residency, depending on the nature of the mismatch, Allcon said. If the voter does not respond, they will not be registered, and their status will be recorded as a non-registered entry.

If an application is incomplete — such as missing a signature or leaving a required field blank — the elections office sends a different type of notice to the individual, Allcon said. This notice informs them that their application is incomplete and encourages them to contact the office to correct the issue so they can be registered.

“There’s a lot of just daily verification, not just on our part, because we’re in constant contact with voters via letter and phone call if they give us their phone numbers, but also with on the state side, where they’re checking these things to make sure that the voters that are being registered meet the requirements of the law,” Allcons said.

After the Nov. 5 election, the elections office will conduct a mass purge of the voter rolls. Anyone who has been in suspense status for at least two years and has not voted in two federal elections will be automatically purged or removed from the rolls.

In the opposite cycle, the office sends out voter certification cards, and they usually receive a significant number of these cards back. Those individuals whose cards are returned go on the suspense list. This alternating process ensures that voter registration records remain accurate and current.

In Smith County, 38 polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday for Election Day where residents will cast their vote for president, state representatives, local elected officials and more.