The Lincoln County Election Commission is calling for voters whohave recently moved or changed their names to update their voterregistration cards after a rash of returned jury summons.

Commission Chairman Mike Byrne said many jury summons – whichare drawn randomly from voter rolls – have been returned by thepostal service since they began being issued in April. A returnedjury summons not only depletes the year’s potential juror poll, butalso lets commissioners know their voter rolls contain inaccurateinformation.

“When we get them back, we try to find these people and seewhat’s going on,” said Byrne, who estimated that at least 300 jurysummons have been returned since April. “If a voter has moved orchanged their last name since 2005, when we started using (theStatewide Election Management System) and have not let the circuitclerk know, they need to come in and get that changed.”

Byrne said commissioners send confirmation cards to theaddresses from which summons are returned. If the cards gounanswered, voters listed for the address are placed on theinactive roll, which could force them to vote via affidavit ballotduring the next election.

District One Commissioner James Tillman pointed out that votingaffidavit can be an unsafe means of voting. The paper ballots areissued to voters who insist on voting at a precinct where theirname does not appear on the poll book.

If, after the vote is cast, that voter was at the wrongprecinct, the ballot is thrown out. That is the most importantreason why voters who have moved or change their names shouldupdate their registration.

“If we have them in the right place from the beginning, there’sno problem,” Tillman said. “You might have someone registered tovote at Alexander, but they may have moved across town to the MamieMartin Precinct. If they go to Mamie to vote, technically theycan’t vote there.”

Tillman said 300 incorrect entries in the voter rolls is not”extraordinary” considering there are approximately 20,000registered voters in Lincoln County, but the commission’s goal isto perfect the voter rolls.

District Four Election Commissioner Janie Sisco said the publicrequest for assistance is part of a focused effort by commissionersto clean up the county’s voter rolls.

“The secretary of state said we had 3,000 voters who neededpurging, and we’re making some progress,” Sisco said.

Since the beginning of 2009, commissioners have stepped up theirefforts to cleanse the voter rolls. The commission now meets twiceper week, Sisco said, and for the first time is using the SEMSsystem in its office rather than relying on the circuit clerk.

“Things have really changed in the election commissioners’office,” she said. “I think people will really be surprised nexttime they go to the polls to vote at the progress we’ve made atgetting everything in order.”