142,000 voters in jeopardy of losing right to vote in Georgia

If you care about your voting rights in Georgia, please heed this warning. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has his radar on more than 142,000 Georgia voters whom he could declare inactive if they don’t respond to notifications that election officials from his office are sending out.

Eventually, some or all of these 142,000 Georgians could see their registrations canceled if they don’t communicate with the SOS office upon being notified. The notifications are being sent to people who have appeared to move, either to other states or different counties within Georgia.

Data from the Electronic Registration Information Center, an organization of 31 states says nearly 63,800 of the notifications are being sent to people who appear to have registered to vote or obtained a driver’s license in another state. 

An additional 45,700 moved to a different county within Georgia, and 32,800 moved out of state, according to national change of address forms submitted to the U.S. Postal Service. The SOS says the notifications will help improve the accuracy of Georgia’s voter registration list, which includes about 7.7 million voters.

Canceling voters because of their lack of participation can only occur during odd-numbered years between major elections, according to state law. So voter registrations won’t be immediately canceled this year under the state’s “use it or lose it” law. This is the controversial law that allows election officials to remove registrations of voters who failed to cast a ballot for at least eight years. 

“Voter purges”, also known as mass voter registration cancellations, eliminated hundreds of thousands from the voter rolls. This includes: 534,000 registrations in 2017, 287,000 in 2019, and 101,000 in 2021.

Georgians are encouraged to check their registration status online and sign up to vote through the state’s My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov.

Please share this information with family, friends, and on your social media accounts. We all have a role to play in protecting our rights to vote.