The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 2, 2024
Voter list maintenance is a part of our election system. People die, change their names, or move out of state. Local, state and county officials use sophisticated voter registration data services such as ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center, to aid them, or less effectively, agreements with nearby states and other internal software.
Georgia is preparing to purge an estimated 500,000 of its voters in 2025 – 6% of those registered, employing recommendations from ERIC and other sources. Of those, and estimated 100,000 will be purged not because they’ve moved, but because they haven’t voted recently, under Georgia’s ”use it or lose it” law. Voters who have not voted for five years are put on an “inactive list.” Then, if there’s no contact with election officials in 9 years and two presidential cycles, those voters are purged from the rolls.
Election officials typically notify voters by mail of such actions. But several studies have found that since the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder Voting Rights Act decision, purges sometimes target urban communities of color, as found in Ohio’s 2024 purge and a study of 2014 to 2018 purges in Michigan.
Anti-voter legislatures are doubling down, shortening the “use it or lose it” window, and allowing purges closer to the election. More on those tactics in an upcoming report.
We have links to more on the purge in Georgia and other states at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – (2018) Purges: A Growing Threat to the Right to Vote
States News – (2019) The Messy Politics of Voter Purges
Savannah Tribune – Georgia Set to Purge 100K Voters Under “Use It or Lose It” Law
Brennan Center for Justice – (2024) Attacks on Voter Rolls and How to Protect Them
NBC News 21 – Do Voter Purges Discriminate Against the Poor and Minorities?
Ohio Capital Journal – (2024) Ohio’s voter purge “disproportionately targets voters of color”, civil rights organizations say
Michigan State University – New MSU Research Sheds Light on Impact and Bias of Voter Purging in Michigan
Groups Taking Action:
Legal Defense Fund, The Voter Purge Project, Campaign Legal Center
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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