The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 28, 2024
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Maintenance of voter registration lists is a standard practice, to remove voters who’ve died, moved, or are no longer eligible. But some hyper-partisan legislatures and state officials have weaponized the process. If you’ve moved or skipped voting in a recent election, your voter registration may no longer be valid.
Wyoming announced the purge of 86,000 of its voters this week, over 30% of its 2022 registered voters. That’s thanks to a new “use it or lose it” law giving county clerks authority to remove voters if they skip only one federal election.
In January, Florida removed almost 1 million voters from its rolls as a result of a similar 2023 law. Last year, just two weeks before the voter registration window closed in Ohio, Secretary of State Frank LaRose purged more than 26,000 voters – just weeks before a ballot question on abortion rights.
The remedy in many states had been same day registration. But election day registration has been under attack as well, forcing registrants to vote by provisional ballot, or trying to end same day registration altogether.
The moral of this story is that under the cloak of “election integrity,” voter purges are being used for voter suppression purposes in several states. NOW is the time to check your registration, giving you time to re-register before November.
We have links to tools to check your registration at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Southern Coalition for Social Justice – Combatting Wrongful Voter Purges
Democracy Docket – In Seven States, Removing Voters from the Rolls Just Got Easier
American Bar Association – (2020) “Use It or Lose It”: The Problem of Purges from the Registration Rolls of Voters Who Don’t Vote Regularly
CBS News – Eligible voters are being swept up in conservative activists’ efforts to purge voter rolls
Public News Service – WY purged 86,000 voters, must re-register for presidential election
Michigan Advance – Judge dismisses lawsuit claiming Michigan didn’t purge dead voters from election rolls
The Guardian – (2023) Ohio purged 26,000 voters days before abortion referendum deadline
American Democracy Minute – (2023) Florida Just Purged its List of Absentee Ballot Requestors, Forcing Millions of Voters to Reapply
WMNF – Almost 1 million Florida voters declared inactive after law purging voter lists
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
Groups Taking Action:
The Voter Purge Project, Brennan Center for Justice, Campaign Legal Center, League of Women Voters U.S.
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