102-year-old World War II veteran removed from voter rolls, mistaken for dead

By Michelle Bandur

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    STOCKTON, California (KCRA) — A Stockton man recently found out he could no longer vote after an error in San Joaquin County marked him as being dead.

The 102-year-old Army veteran said the only elections he’s missed was when he was fighting in World War II.

Marvin Lykins wants San Joaquin County and California’s secretary of state to know he will keep voting as long as he can.

“I think everyone should be able to express their opinion about who’s running, their policies and political standing,” Lykins said.

“Dad’s always very proud of the fact that he voted for FDR. It was his first election,” said Diana Larson, Lykins’ daughter.

Larson said they study issues and propositions together before casting ballots.

She said when the Secretary of State’s Office sent her dad an email stating Lykins’ voter registration was canceled, she immediately called the office.

“I don’t know if it is legitimate or if it’s a hoax or if it’s some type of a scam,” Larson said. “They were able to confirm with me that he was no longer registered to vote.”

The Secretary of State’s Office said in an email to KCRA 3:

“As part of regular voter roll maintenance, every quarter the Secretary of State provides to county elections officials a list of voters whose birthday indicates that they are 100 years old or more AND is a potential match to a deceased record.

“County elections officials are instructed to evaluate these potential matches, and if the county determines that the voter record matches deceased record information, the county initiates the cancellation process. The cancellation process includes sending a pre-cancellation notice to the voter. If the voter doesn’t respond within 15 days, then the cancellation of the voter’s registration record is initiated and the voter is notified.

“The elections staff in San Joaquin County evaluated the quarterly list from December 2024 and mistakenly determined that the voter record in question matched a deceased record and initiated the voter record cancellation process. The voter was later cancelled by San Joaquin County on February 10 and a cancellation notice was sent by email. The voter then re-registered on February 27.”

“Unfortunately, there are people who will assume that just because you’re 100 doesn’t mean you’re dead,” Lykins said.

San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Olivia Hale said a voter was incorrectly removed from the voter roll, “due to a rare clerical error while processing the voter roll maintenance list from the Secretary of State’s Office.”

Hale said the following in a statement:

“The individual impacted was immediately placed back on the active voter roll as soon as our office received a new online registration from Mr. Lykins. This is an isolated incident. We work closely with the Secretary of State to have the most up to date voter list, and we have thorough internal processes to ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast their ballot.”

Larson is concerned about other families with 100-year-old voters.

“They may not even be aware of it until they get ready to vote in the next election,” she said.

Larson helped her father re-register to vote, and he will be able to exercise his right to vote in the next election.

Hale said her office has implemented additional staff training to ensure the error doesn’t occur in the future. She said they sincerely value Lykins’ “dedication as a voter over the past eight decades and appreciate his family bringing this issue to our attention.”

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