SSA voter registration data includes more than new applications according to Missouri Sec. of State office

Voter registration verification data found on the HAVV/SSA database seemed to show 10’s of thousands of applications submitted with deceased persons SS#’s

In a recent episode of TimcastIRL, the crew highlighted some registration data found on the HAVV portion of the Social Security Administration’s website that seemed to show high numbers of applications being identified under the “Single Match Found - Deceased” column, raising questions about whether voter registration fraud has been occurring on a large scale in certain states.

This system was established in 2004 to offer assistance to States in the verification of voter eligibility during the voter registration process.

The SSA’s role is to cross reference their database to the 4 digit social security number provided when the application was submitted with no ID.

On the week of February 17th, 2024, Missouri saw a total of 23,253 single matched deceased transactions.

Single matched deceased transactions are described as:

The total number of verification requests where there is only one match in our records on name, date of birth, and last four digits of the SSN, and the number holder is deceased.

The SSA website clearly states that States are only to submit requests for verification for new registrants who do not provide a government issued ID during the voter registration process, seen below.

Knowing this, it’s unsurprising questions would be raised as to how States such as Missouri and Texas are seeing such high numbers of deceased voter registrations. Given the information provided on the website, one would likely conclude that this data does in fact represent only new registrations.

However, following a phone call with the Director of Communications for Missouri’s Secretary of State office, it seems that this conclusion isn’t correct.

The Director of Communications provided a statement for publication over the phone and in an email which reads:

The Missouri Secretary of State's office is charged with supporting local election authorities (LEAs) in their duties of maintaining voter rolls in each jurisdiction. LEAs have several tools available to them to perform this duty, SSA is one. Changes to voter rolls occur with new applications, name changes, changes of addresses, notices of returned mail, failure to participate in certain elections, and death notices. As you can imagine all of this activity is not necessarily linear but rather cyclical and ongoing in election years. The SSA reporting referenced does not equate to new voter registration, while that is a part of it, LEAs can run checks and verification on new as well as historical records. By performing these periodic checks, the most current and reliable information maintains the voter rolls. Again, these checks are not just for new voter applications.

While they did not provide any specific details on how many of the verification transactions were new applications or otherwise, it seems the SSA website is misleading, as they can in fact utilize this service to verify historical records, as well as new applications.

If States like Missouri and Texas are working through their voter rolls to ensure they’re up to date, it would make sense that they would be seeing such high numbers of single matched deceased transactions.

Texas Secretary of State office also published a statement contesting the interpretation of other data found on the website following an X post that suggested voter registrations without an ID we’re skyrocketing in multiple states.

Here is the statement from Texas Secretary of State office. We have not received any comment from their office after reaching out.

Austin — There have been recent and inaccurate reports about the voter registration process and ID requirements in Texas. Please see the statement from Secretary of State Jane Nelson below.

"It is totally inaccurate that 1.2 million voters have registered to vote in Texas without a photo ID this year. The truth is our voter rolls have increased by 57,711 voters since the beginning of 2024. This is less than the number of people registered in the same timeframe in 2022 (about 65,000) and in 2020 (about 104,000).

When Texans register to vote, they must provide a driver license number or a Social Security number. When an individual registers to vote with just a SSN, the state verifies that the SSN is authentic.

While federal law allows individuals to register to vote without a photo ID, Texans must actually show proof of ID to vote. The 1.2 million figure comes from the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) website, which is supposed to report the number of times states have asked to verify an individual’s social security number. The SSA number is clearly incorrect, and we are working now to determine why there is such a large discrepancy."