People who probably moved away and didn’t cast ballots in the previous two general elections are the main targets of Georgia’s huge cancellation of dormant voter registrations this year, which is one of the largest in American history. However, there is a chance that qualified voters will become entangled in the cancellation effort.
Voters like Jacobs-King, who haven’t cast a ballot in recent years, may lose their registrations as a result of these cancellations.
The deadline for eligible voters on this year’s cancellation list to prevent their registrations from being canceled is Wednesday.
In recent years, around one in five Georgians who were purged from the lists returned, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of voter statistics.
According to the AJC analysis, almost 210,000 voters who were canceled in prior biennial removals from 2017 to 2023 reregistered to vote in Georgia, and more than half of them still reside in the same county.
Voters who reregistered include those who relocated back to Georgia after leaving, those who reregistered when they renewed their driver’s licenses, and those who reregistered ahead of significant elections.
According to Trey Hood, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, things are always changing. People are being added to the rolls on a regular basis. Individuals are continuously being removed from the rolls.
Ben Hendren is credited.
Ben Hendren is credited.
The cancellations, which represent 6% of Georgia’s 8.4 million registered voters, will guarantee that Georgia has the cleanest voter registers in the country, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Elections are clean when the voter rolls are clean. “I promised Georgia voters free, fair, and quick elections, and we’re doing just that,” Raffensperger stated.
Voter suppression by administrative process, which disproportionately impacts Black voters, is what the voting rights organization Fair Fight dubbed the cancellations.
Black voter registrations make up 32% of cancellations overall, which is marginally more than their 31% share of Georgia’s total registrants. However, the AJC discovered that 41% of individuals having their registrations canceled are Black voters who haven’t cast ballots in a number of years.
Lauren Groh-Wargo, the CEO of Fair Fight, stated that young Black voters are being disproportionately affected by politicians’ hasty removal of voters based on faulty data.
However, Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University, stated that discrimination is not always present only because a larger percentage of voters who are identified for cancellation are Black.
“It’s not surprising that you might see higher levels of nonvoting that make you subject to purging,” Gillespie said, adding that nonvoting rates do tend to be higher in communities of color.
Inactive voters who haven’t cast a ballot in about ten years, registered to vote or received a driver’s license in another state, had undeliverable election mail, or changed their addresses are all covered by the cancellations.
Due to Georgia’s “auste it or lose” statute, dormant voter registrations are canceled on the grounds that the voter has moved.
The use it or lose it regulation is expected to result in the cancelation of about 106,000 voters, or 22% of all planned registration withdrawals.
Voters who appear to have moved are considered inactive under Georgia law. If they fail to show up for the next two general elections, they may then be canceled.
Election authorities continue to advise voters to verify their registrations to make sure they are not at risk, despite the secretary of state’s office stating that it is quite certain that cancellations impact those who are not authorized to vote.
One issue with widespread cancellations is that they may mistakenly exclude voters who haven’t migrated from Georgia, particularly those who haven’t cast ballots in years. Julie Houk, a lawyer of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a civil rights group based in Washington.
According to Houk, some cancellations are typically incorrect. You shouldn’t be removed from the rolls simply because you choose not to vote. It should be predicated on the fact that you relocated, not that you chose to abstain from voting.
Conservative organizations, however, have attacked Raffensperger’s office for not going far enough and have called for the removal of many more registrations.
According to federal law, inactive voter registrations can only be deleted when people receive mail-in reminders and miss two or more general elections.
Terry Fye of Greater Georgia, a conservative voter mobilization group, stated that this voter register cleanup is not only long overdue but also good sense. Election authorities are constitutionally obligated to maintain the accuracy of our rolls, and the secretary of state’s office in particular. Failing to do so erodes public confidence in our elections and leaves room for possible fraud.
Given how many people move in and out of Georgia on a regular basis, the high number of cancellations is indicative of the state’s extremely mobile population.
44% of voters scheduled for removal are between the ages of 30 and 44, who are about twice as likely as any other age group to be on the cancellation list.
Voters in Georgia can locate their registration details on the state’s My Voter Page atmvp.sos.ga.gov and check their registration status using the AJC’s voter cancelation search tool.
By completing the My Voter Page, replying to notification letters sent last month, or getting in touch with their local election office, voters can return their registrations to active status and avoid cancellations.
