Georgia set to purge nearly half-million inactive voters this summer
Georgia set to purge`inactive voters this summer
This summer, hundreds of thousands of voter registrations will be wiped from the voter registration list. Georgia election officials plan to remove more than 450,000 inactive voter registrations. It’s one of the largest cancelations of voter registrations in U.S. history.
ATLANTA - Georgia election officials plan to remove nearly a half-million inactive voters from the registry.
It is one of the biggest planned purges in the country.
What they're saying:
Blake Evans, elections director with the Secretary of State’s Office, says Georgia wants to maintain election integrity. "We want to make sure we have the most accurate voter list in the nation," Evans said.
The agency will cancel about 455,000 inactive voter registrations in July. "We do this to keep our voter list accurate," Evans said.
The Electronic Registration Information Center, ERIC, reports when a voter has moved out of state and is no longer eligible to vote. According to ERIC, 170,000 voters appear to have moved. The state says 100,000 people have not voted or had any contact with election officials for at least nine years.
"We want to ensure that voters who live here and are lawfully registered remain registered, and that anyone who moves out of state and has an outdated record gets their record removed following the lawful process," Evans said.
Who it will affect
What we know:
Under Georgia’s "use it or lose it" law, voters can lose their registrations if they don’t remain in contact with election officials for five years and miss the next two general elections. Evans says the state is maintaining election integrity. "It’s very fair and it’s in accordance with state and federal laws," Evans said.
The other side:
The plan is raising concerns from critics. Helen Butler, executive director of The Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, is skeptical. "That many people, I’m really concerned that eligible voters will be removed and shouldn’t be removed," Butler said. "You still live in Georgia, you’re still a resident, you should be able to vote."
Butler worries the cancelations could disenfranchise people with unreliable mail delivery, those who have lost their homes, and other legitimate registered voters. "There are a lot of people who are being removed just because they haven’t voted in an election cycle, two presidential election cycles," Butler said. "People of color, those in underserved communities, and residents of rural areas often lack transportation to vote."
What we don't know:
The agency will publish a list of the planned cancelations in July.
What's next:
Voters will get the chance to contact county election officials to keep their registrations intact.
The Source: FOX 5's Christopher King spoke with Blake Evans, elections director with the Secretary of State’s Office, and Helen Butler, executive director of The Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda.