List of States

Though often overlooked, even by professional investigators, voters registration records are an easy-to-access and often very effective source of accurate background-check and skip-tracing info.

In just about any investigation or missing-person-locate, you should take a look at these records.

One reason for this is simply that most people are not aware that voters registration records are public information, and thus supply accurate personal data about themselves when they might not otherwise. (Some people, particularly illegal aliens, commonly use their voters registration cards as a form of ID.) Another reason is that these records are often easily available online nowadays. If this is not the case in your subject's state, you can usually get what you're after with a phone call.

What will somebody's voters registration card (or its computerized equivalent) provide? Name, current address or address for the most recent election, past addresses from former elections, age and date of birth, social security number, and, on the card itself, a signature.

To access voters registrations, go to the list of states page, click on the state in which you wish to search, then on the next screen which appears, scroll down to the county in which your subject lives (or was living). Call and ask to speak to the records clerk and explain that you want to check voters registration records; the clerk will tell you the easiest way to get the information you need.

More information on...VOTERS REGISTRATION RECORDS

A few tricks of the trade:

1. Even if your subject doesn't vote, voters registration files may help you to locate him because he (or she) may still be registered. Or, if he's not registered, his spouse, son, or daughter may be registered as a voter at the same address, enabling you to find him. Or even if the relative is registered at another address, that person may be able to provide you with a lead to his whereabouts (it's helpful, of course, if your subject has an unusual name).
2. Voters registrations are often used by PI's to locate unlisted phone numbers. People will often write their unlisted phone numbers on voters registration cards, unaware that this is easily-accessible public information.
3. Since voters registration data is quite accurate it's commonly used as a cross-check against information provided on employment applications to verify truthfulness.
4. Need your subject's SSN? A quick way to get it on your own, without using an information professional, is through voters registration records.