The accuracy of the death master file, which contains 85 million records, has been a repeated issue for

Congress and the Social Security Administration, according to the agencys website. Its inspector general, Patrick OCarroll, testified before a Congressional committee in February that about 1,000 still-living people are found on the death list each month, and a July 2012 audit found 1.2 million dead Social Security beneficiaries not on the list. Most of the records in the death file include a social security number, full name, date of birth and date of death, OCarroll testified, adding that the data comes from many sources, including family members and funeral homes. The agency, OCarroll testified, does not guarantee the files veracity.

Vince Ryan Harris County Attorney FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 11, 2012
Contact: Office of Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan Terry ORourke 713-755-5101 (office) 713-302-7594 (cell) 832-724-2361 (cell)

HARRIS COUNTY ATTORNEY VINCE RYAN APPROVES END TO VOTER DEATH PURGES Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan today issued a legal memorandum finding that the purge of allegedly dead voters directed by the Secretary of State was not lawful. Ryan determined that the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Don Sumners refusal to remove any voter from the voter rolls of Harris County based on the Texas Secretary of States transmission of a list of voters suspected of being deceased is well founded and supported by the law. The notice from the Secretary of State did not make the required determination that the voters on the list were deceased, Ryan said. Many people have come forward astounded that the government had notified their families that they were dead. Two Assistant County Attorneys in my office received this notice. This action by the Texas Secretary of State is outrageous, wrong, and unlawful.

A copy of Ryans legal memorandum is attached.