A move toward online voter registration and membership in a multi-state consortium is expected to shrink R.I.'s 32-percent gap between the number of voters who are registered and the number that would be expected based on U.S. Census figures.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island has the most bloated voter rolls in New England, with 32 percent more registered voters than would be expected based on U.S. Census Bureau numbers, a Providence Journal analysis has found.

But Rhode Island appears to be on the verge of solving its problems, as Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea has championed several measures that have proved useful in Connecticut, which has the trimmest voter list in the region, according to the Journal analysis.

"The right to vote is sacred and people need to trust the integrity of our elections," Gorbea said Tuesday in a statement. "I want all Rhode Islanders to know that we are safeguarding their right to vote by continuing to improve our elections systems."

The newspaper's analysis found that, based on Census Bureau estimates of the number of adult citizens living in each state and the percentage of them who registered to vote in the 2008 presidential election, Rhode Island would be expected to have 592,672 voters. But 781,770 people are registered to vote in the state, an excess of 189,098, or 32 percent.

By contrast, Connecticut had the lowest percentage of excess voters, 10.5 percent, based on an expected registration of 1,899,890 and actual registration of 2,100,021.

Excess voters wind up on the rolls when voters die or move, especially out of state, without elections officials noticing.

Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise W. Merrill, said two strategies have proven especially useful in keeping the Nutmeg State's voter rolls more accurate: online voter registration, which makes it easy for voters to change their addresses, and membership in a multi-state consortium called ERIC, in which states share voter and motor vehicle information to detect people who move between states. The consortium also compares state voter rolls to a list maintained by the federal Social Security Administration of people who have died.

"The online system makes changing your address extremely easy," Gallahue told The Journal in a phone interview.

Rhode Island has begun using ERIC and online registration under Gorbea, who took office last year.

But the state has been hamstrung this year by state and federal law, which bar removing voters within 90 days before an election, except for those confirmed to have died. With three elections in 2016, eight of the first 11 months have been off-limits for cleaning the voter list.

Connecticut joined ERIC and began using online registration in 2014, giving that state more than a year's head start on Rhode Island.

Since Gorbea took office, Rhode Island has removed 32,000 voters, 46 percent of whom had died. Another 54,192 have been marked inactive, meaning they will be removed if the miss two consecutive federal elections.

No system will ever create a perfect voter list because it takes time for officials to react to voters dying and moving, and officials err on the side of being sure not to remove legitimate voters.

The deadline for registering to vote this month has not passed in some of the states The Journal looked at, so their numbers will rise slightly above what was available for analysis.

New England states have more voters than expected

The Providence Journal calculated the number of registered voters each New England state would be expected to have by multiplying the number of adult citizens in each state by the percentage of those people registered to vote in the 2008 presidential election, both numbers estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau. The expected number for each state was compared with the number actually registered, according to secretaries of state. All six states had more voters than expected.

Percent registered 2008

Adult citizens

Expected registration

Actual registration

Excess

Percent excess

Connecticut

73.5

2,584,884

1,899,890

2,100,021

200,131

10.5

Maine

79.7

1,056,410

841,959

996,853

154,894

18.4

Massachusetts

72.6

4,924,459

3,575,157

4,534,974

959,817

26.8

New Hampshire

76.0

1,035,684

787,120

918,366

131,246

16.7

Rhode Island

75.5

784,997

592,672

781,770

189,098

31.9

Vermont

72.5

494,717

358,670

464,453

105,783

29.5

— pparker@providencejournal.com

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