(Chuck Muth) - While some folks are busy arguing about voter ID laws and mail ballots, a group of everyday citizens in Pennsylvania quietly did something that made a real difference: they helped clean up the voter rolls.

Over 20,000 outdated registrations were removed - without lawsuits, drama, or government mandates.

And it worked.

So now Citizen Outreach’s “Pigpen Project” is taking a page from their book.

Last year, the Election Research Institute, a nonpartisan group, found over 200,000 people on Pennsylvania’s voter rolls who had moved out of state.

That’s like almost the entire city of Reno up and leaving - but still being registered to vote.

Here’s the catch: most people don’t know they have to fill out a form to cancel their registration when they move.

So these names just stay on the rolls for years. And that opens the door to all kinds of problems, including potential fraud and wasted resources during elections.

In response, citizen volunteers in Pennsylvania decided to do something about it.

Using a simple letter provided by the Institute, they mailed out thousands of notices to these out-of-state voters.

The letters politely explained the situation and included a link to the form to cancel their registration.

The results were shocking - in a good way.

More than 20,000 people responded and asked to be removed from the rolls. That’s nearly five times the average number of removals in a typical year.

According to a June 30 report from the Pennsylvania Department of State, the numbers don’t lie.

People were thankful, too. Many didn’t realize they were still registered in Pennsylvania and appreciated the heads-up.

One local election official even admitted the letters were accurate and helpful - even if he called them “creepy.” Go figure.

Here in Nevada, our Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar, says he wants clean voter rolls. But talk is cheap. The real question is: where’s the action?

Groups like the Pigpen Project have been sounding the alarm about bloated voter rolls in Nevada for years.

According to their research, Clark County alone has thousands of registered voters who haven’t voted in over a decade, or who may not even live in the state anymore.

Yet efforts to clean up the lists often hit roadblocks erected by Aguilar himself.

Federal law makes it tough to remove a voter unless they confirm in writing that they’ve moved. There’s also a 90-day freeze before federal elections where states can’t do mass removals.

That’s why individual requests like the ones seen in Pennsylvania are so important.

In Nevada, the Pigpen Project intends to follow Pennsylvania’s lead.

Handwritten letters - yes, the old-school kind - got a higher response rate than printed ones. It turns out people are more likely to open a letter that looks personal.

There’s also the cost to consider.

Mailing reminders is cheap compared to the chaos of a messed-up voter roll. Sending ballots to dead addresses, long-gone voters, or people registered in multiple states is a recipe for confusion and waste.

Critics say efforts like this could “intimidate” voters. But nobody’s being told not to vote. They’re just being informed. Isn’t that what transparency is supposed to look like?

Bottom line: if regular citizens in Pennsylvania can do this, so can Nevadans.

It’s time for state election leaders to stop making excuses and start making changes. Voter rolls shouldn’t be treated like old phone books collecting dust.

Clean rolls don’t just protect elections. They build trust. And in a time when many voters are losing faith in the system, that trust is more valuable than ever.

Notice: If you’ve moved out of Nevada, or know someone who has, you can cancel your registration by filling out the proper form through the Nevada Secretary of State’s website.

Want to help clean up Nevada’s voter rolls? Learn more at PigpenProject.com and consider volunteering.

Because sometimes, the best fix for a messy system is a good old-fashioned letter.

This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.