Georgia Removes More Than 300,000 'Inactive' Voters From Rolls

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Wed Dec 18, 2019, 05:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) — The Georgia Secretary of State this week removed hundreds of thousands of registered voters it classified as "inactive" from its voting rolls, amid a legal challenge from a voting rights group to block the purge of a portion of the names.

The removal comes as part of a new state provision signed into law earlier this year. Under the provision, the state must remove registration records from the voter rolls that have been deemed "inactive" for more than three years. A voter is categorized as "inactive" if they don't vote in two general elections and have had no contact with board of elections in that time, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office.

About 313,000 voters were removed from the list, or about 4% of all registered voters in the state, according to the Secretary of State. The "inactive" voters were marked for removal after failing to respond to a pre-addressed, postage paid confirmation card within 30 days; the card asked voters to confirm or update their information. State officials mailed out notices to the last known address of voters and posted the list of people online.

Fair Fight Action, a voting rights organization founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams, filed an emergency motion in federal court on Monday challenging the removal of a portion of the list -- 120,000 voters who were removed due to inactivity since the 2012 presidential election The group is in the midst of a federal case against Raffensperger over the so-called "use it or lose it" policy, which allows registrations to be canceled after voters fail to participate in elections for several years...

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics/georgia-voting-rolls/index.html

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Seth Bringman, Fair Fight spokesman said, "In our view, it is a First Amendment right not to vote, and it is unconstitutional to take away a Georgian's right to vote simply because they have not expressed that right in recent elections."

"309,000 is the total purge. This also includes people who had returned mail, passed away, or informed the state that they moved. In our view, these are appropriate reasons for a Georgia voter to be removed from the rolls, but 'use it or lose it' is not."

On Monday afternoon the group went before US District Court Judge Steve C. Jones to fight the move. The judge allowed the removal to go forward and will hear arguments from the state and Fair Fight Action on Thursday.

* FYI- CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS, IN EVERY STATE, https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

[IronLionZion]

1. They must be really worried about Georgia turning blue

The conditions that cause a person to lose voter registration disproportionately impacts younger people, lower income workers, and minorities. These are the folks who move more often for school or work. Older and wealthier voters are more likely to live in one place long term.

They've already taken measures to reduce polling locations and early voting, ensuring longer lines on election day in urban areas to discourage voters who work hourly wage jobs or have other priorities competing for their time. Voting is easier in rural areas.

[appalachiablue]

3. Yes, and all those things are true about Dem. voting practices

and habits.

We need to push for effective, brief ads about people being sure to register and vote, and how poll places can have changes and 'inactive' voters can be taken off the rolls. It's vital or this will keep happening.

Maybe Steyer or Bloomberg could help with this.

[aggiesal]

8. vote.org has links to every state ...

Official state voter lookup.
You can verify if you're registered to vote.
https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

[appalachiablue]

9. Great, thank you!

[packman]

2. Smart (but not ethical) move by GOP

They know most Dems , unfortunately, don't vote year after year for one reason or another, BUT Repukes will - come hell or high water - will almost assuredly vote every opportunity they can. I would bet the a vast majority of those 300k are Dems.

[FBaggins]

5. I don't know (about either)

I'm not sure it's smart... because the vast majority of these will be legit removals or people who weren't likely to vote anyway. I doubt that the actual impact on the vote will be larger than the negative press of looking like you're trying to game the election.

But I don't think it's really all that unethical. The specifics are debatable (three years?), but governments should absolutely keep accurate voter records. There should be some way for people to drop off when they move. There was one part of the article that I didn't agree with:

Seth Bringman, Fair Fight spokesman said, "In our view, it is a First Amendment right not to vote, and it is unconstitutional to take away a Georgian's right to vote simply because they have not expressed that right in recent elections."

I can't agree that removing a registration is taking away the right to vote itself. Again... I don't know about the low three-year threshold... but if you haven't voted for six years and missed/ignored official notifications - then I don't think needing to re-register is tantamount to disenfranchisement.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. While I agree that truly inactive voters should be removed from the rolls,

three years is too short a time to deem someone inactive. Unless, perhaps a death notice was in the paper recently.

It needs to be four years or two Presidential election cycles. A lot of people only vote once every four years, and if something comes up to keep someone from voting, they might fully intend to get to the ballot box the next time around. Miss two, and you re clearly not very interested in voting.

Of course, if every place had same day registration for those not on the rolls for whatever reason, problem solved.

[aggiesal]

10. I don't think they should be removing anyone ...

Here in San Diego County, if you don't vote in 3 election cycles, you're removed, not 3 years, but 3 cycles (or approximately 6 years).

If I open a bank account, and I put money in it and forget about it, I don't lose that money, the account is never closed.

Why is my money more valuable than my vote?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. If people are never removed, you'd quickly have twenty or more voters

registered at a given address.

I'm speaking from a certain experience. When I was running for office in Kansas in 2004, I was going door-to-door with voter lists. All too often there would be a plethora of names at a single address. But only one or two of those named were still living there. And there might also be a multiplicity of different party registrations.

Led to some weird conversations. "Hi! I'm Poindexter Oglethorpe and I'm running for office! Does Fred Smith live here?"
"No."
"Okay, then, how about Howard Hamster?"
"Uhhh, he's not here either."
"Well, are you by any chance Bernard Batswingle?"
"Yes, I am. I bought this place from the Hamsters, but I haven't a clue who Fred Smith is."

Yeah, voter roll purges have to occur. There are good and sensible reasons for them. Which does make me wonder how Colorado and Oregon, who do only vote by mail, handle such things.

Oh, and there are bank accounts that will accumulate fees that will put them in arrears and effectively closed if you don't do anything with that account for a period of time. That's what those unclaimed account lists are all about. Accounts can be closed for inactivity, typically after a few years. Hmmmm. Isn't that analogous to not voting for several years?

And three cycles, 6 years, is a reasonable time frame to use for deciding which registrations to purge. If people really care about voting, then VOTE! I know, strange notion, isn't it. But use it or lose it can apply to more than one thing.

I will repeat my above comment that same day registration ought to exist everywhere. As well as advance voting starting about 4 weeks, maybe longer, before Election Day. No, Election Day as a National Holiday is a truly stupid idea, and you can tell that those proposing it have never worked any kind of shift work. Advance voting, vote by mail, and vote often enough to maintain your registration. It's not that difficult.

[NurseJackie]

6. Georgia. Wisconsin. They are rigging the elections.

[appalachiablue]

7. This will persist until we deter it, cuz they never let up.

The three year rule on expunging people is way too short.

[rockfordfile]

11. Democrats have to get to work signing those folks

[exboyfil]

12. So how much does this card

look like a piece of junk mail?

I think the design of any such mailing should be reviewed by both parties and emphasize that not sending in the card is taking away your ability to vote.

Anybody got a picture?

[csziggy]

13. Greg Palast wrote about the Ohio cards last year

And said they look like junk mail:

Ohio’s Junk Mail Trick Led The Supreme Court To Approve Jim Crow Vote Purge
June 14, 2018
Greg Palast for Truthout

Monday’s Supreme Court decision blessing Ohio’s removal of half a million voters was ultimately decided on the issue of a postcard.

Now that little postcard threatens the voting rights of millions but it can be reversed.

The instant-news media, working from press releases, not the Supreme Court’s decision itself, said that Husted, Ohio Secretary of State v. A. Philip Randolph Institute was about whether Ohio has the right to remove voters who failed to cast ballots in two federal election cycles.

Nope.

Even the Court’s right-wing majority concedes that federal law strictly forbids removing voters because they skipped some elections. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 states that a voter purge program “shall not result in the removal of the name of any person by reason of the person’s failure to vote.”



More: https://www.gregpalast.com/ohios-junk-mail-trick-led-the-supreme-court-to-approve-jim-crow-vote-purge/

[Judi Lynn]

15. Georgia restores 22,000 purged voter registrations

Ben Nadler, Associated Press
Updated 12:16 pm CST, Thursday, December 19, 2019



Photo: Bob Andres, AP
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2019 file photo, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger answers questions after the Georgia House passed a bill to buy a new election system that includes a paper ballot. Georgia election officials are set to begin a mass purge of inactive voters from the state’s voting rolls on Monday, Dec. 16, 2019. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in October released a list of over 313,000 voters whose registrations were at risk of being cancelled, about 4% of the state’s total registered voters. Those voters were mailed notices in November and had 30 days to respond in order to keep their registration intact. (Bob Andres//Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

ATLANTA (AP) — After purging more than 300,000 voters from the rolls, Georgia election officials restored roughly 22,000 of them Thursday, citing an error in the way their voting history had been screened.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office said the issue stemmed from the way the process of maintaining the voter list was carried out in 2015.

The affected voters either voted or had some other type of contact with the voter registration system in early 2012, but essentially weren’t given credit for it.

Raffensperger’s office on Monday purged 308,753 voter registrations that were deemed inactive. A federal judge is set to hear arguments Thursday afternoon about whether some of them should be reinstated, after a voting rights advocacy group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams filed an emergency motion earlier this week asking the court to stop part of the purge.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Georgia-restores-22-000-purged-voter-registrations-14919016.php