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Georgia Voters Brace for Another Voter Roll Purge
More than 313,000 Georgia voters could lose their registration
Georgia voters are experiencing a déjà vu.
Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, living up to his promise, is preparing to cancel the registrations of over 313,000 voters (4% of all registered voters in the state) by December 24. The widespread purge of voters is a tradition that was started by Raffensperger’s predecessor, Governor Brian Kemp, who perfected the art of aggressive purges during his eight years as secretary of state. Between 2012 and 2016, he purged some 1.5 million voters. In July 2017, Kemp oversaw the removal of more than 500,000 from the voter rolls — one of the largest voter purges in history.
Typically, voters on purge lists have died, relocated, or are serving sentences for felonies. But a significant number of voters have been deemed “inactive” for failing to cast a ballot in the last few election cycles. Georgia’s secretary of state office claims that on the current purge list, 120,561 voters haven’t voted since 2012. (For the July 2017 purge in Georgia, 107,000 of the 500,000 registrations canceled were allegedly due to inactivity.) This type of voter disenfranchisement is otherwise known as “use it or lose it.”
One possible issue with “use it or lose it” is that the underlying data that produces a purge list can sometimes be inaccurate. Take Ohio, a state set to purge 235,000 voters this summer. Voting rights advocates found that 20% of the voters on the rolls were active voters who should never have been on the list in the first place. In Georgia, APM Report’s initial analysis found almost 300 voters who should not be on the list because they recently voted. Critics of the purge remain deeply concerned.
Here’s the bigger issue: Why would a state penalize a voter who hasn’t voted in recent years by preventing them from voting in the future?
The answer lies in demographics. The type of voter for whom voting in every election is burdensome tends to be low income and/or a racial minority. They are also voters who can’t afford to take time off of work, are disabled, elderly, or don’t have reliable transportation. In other words, they are likely Democratic voters. Thus…
