Virginia finds almost 19,000 dead people on voter rolls

Virginia has identified nearly 19,000 dead individuals still on the state's voter rolls and is working to remove them.

A thorough review of state death records discovered 18,990 dead voters that officials said were still on the rolls due to a coding error that failed to correctly process the dates of their death.

"After ELECT [Virginia Department of Elections] requested a review of all VDH [Virginia Department of Health] death records going back to 1960, VDH discovered death records that had not been previously shared with ELECT," the state announced, according to The Center Square. "After additional data analysis by ELECT staff, 18,990 records of registered voters were identified and will be sent to local registrars for processing."

Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals indicated that the number of dead voters still registered was much higher than she had expected, saying "I knew that there was something there, but I didn’t know that it was this big," per WTOP.

Going forward, the state will grant local registrars the authority to remove the names of voters from the rolls on the basis of family notification or an obituary whereas the state previously required a death certificate.

"We have made it easier to identify and remove deceased voters more quickly," said Beals.

The discovery comes as Virginia implements a new statewide voter registration system and database to keep the voter rolls up to date.

Virginia has skewed heavily Democratic in recent presidential and senatorial elections, though Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's recent triumph has led many to speculate the state may become more competitive in future cycles.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.