SSA official: New election rules ‘flawed’

The Social Security Administration raised concerns yesterday over an election regulation requiring voters to disclose their SS numbers during registration.

Describing the rule as “seriously flawed,” SSA Saipan Field Office manager Michael G. Newman argued that there is no way the Board of Elections can verify whether or not a social security number given by a voter is correct.

“Experience has shown us that many, many people lose their original Social Security card and never bother to replace it. They depend on their memory or on unofficial documents for their Social Security number. Often, they get it wrong,” Newman said.

This, he said, is a common occurrence at local agencies such as the Division of Revenue and Taxation, which he said has no way verifying SS numbers placed on tax returns, and the Division of Motor Vehicles, which used to place SS numbers—“often incorrect”—on driver’s licenses.

“Therefore, the only sure way the Board of Elections has of verifying an SSN is by seeing the actual Social Security Card. Are they really going to deny the right to vote to someone who has lost or forgotten their SSN card? Or is the Board of Elections going to rely on memory and unofficial documents to obtain a voter’s SSN?” he said. “Either way they have introduced a serious defect in the security of the CNMI’s election system.”

Newman further noted that most states, in an effort to protect registrants from identity theft, are now doing away with requiring the full 9-digit SS number from voters.

Citing a 2000 report by the Election Assistance Commission on the impact of the National Voter Registration Act on 1999-2000 federal elections, Newman said the current preferred method of identification is name, birth date, and last four digits of the social security number.

For his part, Commonwealth Election Commission executive director Gregorio Sablan maintained that the policy requiring SS numbers from voters is being implemented pursuant to the NMI Election Law.

Sablan also maintained the commission makes sure it complies with the Privacy Act of 1974 when requesting voters to disclose their Social Security numbers.

Section 7(b) of the federal law states that individuals being asked to provide their SS numbers should be advised “whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory or other authority the number is solicited, and what use will be made of it.”

Further, the fact that registrants are required to complete and sign an affidavit subject to penalty of perjury is enough mechanism to ensure that voters provide only true and correct information, Sablan said.

“People are well informed that if they sign an affidavit and falsely swear that the provided information is correct, they will be subject to prosecution,” the election official said.

Lastly, Sablan said while many states now require only the last four digits of the SS number from voters, there are some jurisdictions that still ask for the whole nine digits. “It’s not like we’re exclusive on this one,” he said.