CHICAGO – Illinois legislators grilled election officials today on the State Board of Elections’ decision to remain a part of a controversial voter registration system. The Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck, or Crosscheck for short, compares names of registered voters across states to see if anyone is registered twice.

However, critics argue the unsecure system is designed to suppress minority voters. Communities of color are more likely to have the same last names, which the program flags as a potential double voter. Additionally, the program does not check middle names or suffixes such as Junior or Senior.

The result is that voters with similar names can often be mistaken by the program as double-registered voters, which could have them potentially thrown off the voter rolls.

Security concerns have also been raised as Crosscheck does not use secure networks and passwords to access the database have been sent on unsecure emails.

State Senator Michael E. Hastings (D-Tinley Park) says he’s worried the state is leaving the personal information of Illinois voters in danger by remaining in the program.

“Keeping sensitive voter information on an unsecured database is a hacker’s dream,” Hastings said. “The state of Illinois should walk away from the Crosscheck program and use more reliable systems that don’t expose the private information of Illinois residents.”

The state of Illinois is also a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) which is considered to be more reliable in determining the accuracy of voter registration.