New Madison County Collaboration Ensures Accurate Voter Registration Records
County Clerk Linda Andreas partners with Coroner Novacich to promptly remove deceased voters, enhancing election accuracy and integrity.
EDWARDSVILLE— Madison County Clerk Linda Andreas announced today that her office has begun utilizing data from the office of Coroner Nick Novacich to ensure that deceased residents are promptly and accurately removed from the county’s voter registration rolls.
The collaboration reinforces Andreas’ commitment to election integrity and transparency.
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“Utilizing this information from the Coroner’s Office, rather than relying on information from the state alone, allows my staff to remove deceased voters from the registration database quickly and accurately,” Andreas said. “This is another layer of security that protects the fairness of our elections.”
Many county clerks in Illinois rely solely on reports provided by a state agency to remove the names of deceased individuals from the rolls of registered voters. Andreas said she recently collaborated with Novacich for a dataset of Madison County deaths recorded in the county in 2023, 2024 and 2025. In reviewing the Coroner’s death records for just one of those years – 2024 – Andreas uncovered the names of 104 individuals who were deceased but had not been removed from the voter rolls.
“Our goal is to eliminate even the potential for voting impropriety,” Andreas said. “When voters know the rolls are clean, they can have confidence that our elections are fair and trustworthy. People want to know their local government is doing the right thing, especially when it comes to elections, and this process — simple but essential — helps assure that every vote cast in Madison County is by a living, eligible voter.”
The Coroner’s Office now is providing a monthly report to the Clerk’s Office, containing the names of individuals whose deaths were recorded by the Coroner.
“Our office recently upgraded our computer software, which will allow us to generate this monthly report in an efficient manner,” Novacich said. “We’re glad that we’re able to provide accurate and prompt information that assists the Clerk’s Office in ensuring election integrity. This is another example of County departments and offices working together to better serve the public.”
Andreas noted that the public can help in identifying names that should be removed from the voter rolls by bringing in or emailing scanned copies of obituaries or death certificates to the office. In addition, the Clerk’s Office mails out registration cards to the addresses for all registered voters every 2 years. If you receive a registration card in the mail for someone who no longer resides at that address, the card should be returned to the Clerk’s Office.
“The integrity of our elections depends on accurate, transparent record-keeping,” Andreas said. “By promptly removing deceased voters from the rolls, we’re doing our part to make sure every vote cast represents a living, eligible citizen.”
Andreas said that along with ensuring election integrity, the benefits of maintaining up-to-date voter rolls include:
- Ensuring eligible voters are accurately assigned to the correct voting districts and receive the proper ballot.
- Reducing costs by helping to accurately budget the number of ballots, voting machines, poll books, polling places, and poll workers.
- Minimizing congestion or wait times at the polls.
- Reducing demands on poll workers to complete unnecessary additional forms at the polls.
- Simplifying post-election procedures by reducing the need for provisional ballots.
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