SALISBURY — About 1,600 — or one-quarter — of Salisbury voters are facing becoming listed as "inactive" on the town's voter registration list because they failed to respond to the town census this year.
Town Clerk Wilma McDonald recently sent out postcards to the residents, alerting them that their voter registration status may be changing.
The affected residents will have the chance to remain active on the voter rolls if they confirm their residential address by checking off the appropriate box on the postcard and immediately returning it — postage paid by the town — to the clerk's office.
The exercise is the result of the secretary of state office's recent enforcement of an obscure state law that stipulates that those who don't return their annual community census forms be designated "inactive" on the voter checklist.
McDonald said that in the past, her office didn't enforce the statute or spend the time and money to send out follow-up postcards to residents who don't return the town census.
But after a recent compliance review by the secretary of state's office revealed that Salisbury wasn't adhering to the law, the town was ordered to take action.
The printing and mailing of the residency-confirming postcards will cost the town about $1,200, McDonald said.
Those residents who do not return a postcard will be labeled inactive on the voter checklist, per the secretary of state's office, McDonald said.
Should inactive voters go to the polls for future state elections, they will have to show proof of residency and sign an "affidavit of continuous residency in the town of Salisbury," McDonald said. With 1,600 possibly inactive voters, that could present gridlock at the polls, forcing the hiring of more poll workers to deal with the situation, she said.
An inactive voter who fails to show up to vote in at least one of the next two state elections in 2012 and 2014 will be dropped from the voting list entirely, forcing them to re-register if they want to cast a ballot, McDonald said.
Since Massachusetts does not allow people to register to vote at the polls on election day, those who learn they were dropped from the checklist only when they show up to cast their ballot will be turned away.
Salisbury isn't alone in not complying with the state law penalizing voters who don't respond to their annual community censuses, which is said to be voluntary.
Newburyport received the same letter from the secretary of state's office, demanding action on the regulation, but Assistant City Clerk Tricia Barker said the city sought and received permission to postpone the procedure until 2012 because it has a municipal election next month.
Of the 12,000 people on Newburyport's voter list, 3,000 should have been made inactive, according to the state regulation.
"I've worked here nine years, and I've never switched anyone from an active to inactive voter because they didn't respond to our census," Barker said. "And we've never taken anyone off the voter list without their signature."
But Barker admits the new insistence by the state will force Newburyport's hand next year, and it won't be cheap to commit to sending the postage-paid, follow-up postcards.
Meanwhile, Merrimac Town Clerk Patricia True said she has been adhering to the state regulation for the past 20 years.
"It's a pain in the neck; it's time-consuming and expensive, and I don't like it," True said. "But I did it every year because it was the law."
While True didn't receive the compliance letter from the secretary of state's office, she said she did get reprimanded for not removing registered voters who had not voted in at least one of the last four state elections from the checklist, as required by state law. Saying she's the only employee in her office, she cited time constraints for not carrying out that provision.
True and other local clerks were surprised at the aggressive method the secretary of state's office used to bring communities into compliance,
"We've never been told by the state, 'You have to do this, and we're going to be watching you to make sure you do,'" True said.
McDonald said the state can monitor clerks' compliance through a statewide computerized network that links voter checklists for every community to the secretary of state's office.
Although the area clerks interviewed said they want to comply with the state law, they also said when it comes to voting, if they err, they'll do so in a way that protects their citizens' ability to vote, ensuring they don't trample on their rights.
McDonald said the last thing she wants to do is remove anyone from the voter list, so she's urging those who receive the postcards to respond immediately. That action will return residents to active status on the voter checklist, at least for the next year.
The secretary of state's office did not respond to a call for comment by press time.
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