by Atlanta Nearly 478,000 inactive voters are receiving cancellation notices in the mail as part of a significant voter list maintenance initiative announced by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In eight years, this is the biggest mailing of its kind.
The initiative aims to reach registered voters who have been inactive for the general elections in November 2022 and 2024, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Voter registrations may be terminated under state and federal law if a voter has moved out of state or has not communicated with election officials for a predetermined amount of time.To view the records list, click this link.
The following people are on the inactive voter rolls:
- 180,473 voters identified as having moved out of state, flagged through Georgia s membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).
- 87,027 voters who filed a national change of address with the U.S. Postal Service, also identified through ERIC.
- 105,848 voters who have had no contact with their local elections office in the past five years.
- 104,535 voters whose mail from election officials was returned as undeliverable.
According to Raffensperger’s office, voters received a mailer when their records were placed in inactive status, and they are currently receiving another mailer warning them that their records will be terminated if they do not reply.
Before their voter registration is terminated, voters who get a notice have forty days to reply. They can reply by filling out and sending back the postcard that comes with the cancellation mailer after they receive it, or by submitting a voter registration update using Online Voter Registration or their My Voter Page.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, they can also fill out a Georgia voter registration form and send it back to their local elections office.
Cleanest voter rolls in nation
Raffensperger attributed Georgia’s ability to maintain what he refers to as the cleanest voter rolls in the country to its collaborations with ERIC, the USPS, and the state Department of Driver Services. More over half of this year’s cancellation mailings were based only on ERIC data.
According to Raffensperger, “clean voter rolls translate into clean elections.” We are fulfilling my pledge to Georgia citizens to hold free, fair, and quick elections.
Raffensperger added that in the upcoming months, his agency would keep inspecting Georgia’s voter rolls and will implement an address verification tool to make sure all voter addresses are correct and up to date.
