In last year’s coordinated election, more than 33,000 ballots were returned undelivered to the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. Using national credit data, clerk and recorder Steve Schleiker says that number is decreasing.

The data, mined from international consumer credit reporting company Experian, has helped Schleiker’s office identify out-of-date addresses among the county’s almost 475,000 voters. El Paso County is the first in the state to contract with Experian.

With a high military population moving frequently, the task of keeping track of voters is especially important in El Paso County.

“Our population is extremely transient,” Schleiker said. “People are here for maybe one general election.”

The Clerk and Recorder’s Office takes first and last names and addresses from credit data without accessing confidential information, Schleiker said. The search also excludes confidential voters and the nearly 3,000 voters who qualify under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voter Act.

Schleiker said that in the first Experian search last summer, nearly 50,000 voters were listed with addresses that did not correspond to their voter registration.

He said that once notifications went out by email and postcard of the potential errors, the Clerk and Recorder’s Office saw a 1,500% increase in voters reaching out to remove themselves from the database and a 410% increase in voter address update requests.

The effort corresponded to a 60% decrease in undeliverable ballots from 2022 to 2024, saving the county tens of thousands. About 12,000 ballots were undeliverable in the June 25, 2024 election.

The Clerk and Recorder’s Office also audits the voter rolls with third parties like the Social Security Administration and other state and federal agencies. Schleiker attributed results partly to incorporating identification and notification methods that do not rely on the U.S. Postal Service, a method he said did not reach a large portion of voters.

“How much of the voter block are we missing here?” he said.

Schleiker said his office planned to send out another wave of out-of-date address notifications later this year for the remaining unverified voter addresses.