Feds, Connecticut reach deal on identifying voters who died

HARTFORD, Conn. – Federal officials say they’ve reached an agreement with Connecticut on the state’s process for identifying registered voters who have died, in an effort to prevent voter fraud.

The Justice Department announced the “memorandum of understanding” Friday. The agreement calls for state election officials to co-ordinate with the state Public Health Department to remove dead people from the voter database — as required by federal law.

Gabe Rosenberg, a spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, says Connecticut officials already had been co-ordinating with local town clerks and registrars of voters to delete dead voters’ names from the database. Rosenberg says the state will continue to work with local officials. The health department also receives their information from local officials.

The Justice Department has been pushing states to comply with federal voting laws amid President Donald Trump’s concerns about voter fraud.