Georgia releases names of over 100K people at risk of having voter registration canceled

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) on Friday publicized the names of more than 100,000 people who could have their voter registration canceled.

Raffensperger said the 101,789 “obsolete voter files” include “67,286 voter files associated with a National Change of Address form submitted to the U.S. Postal Service; 34,227 voter files that had election mail returned to sender; and 276 that had no-contact with elections officials for at least five years.”

The secretary of state’s office removes voter files monthly for felony convictions and death, but scrapping the nearly 102,000 people from the rolls would be the first major “cleaning” since 2019.

“Making sure Georgia’s voter rolls are up to date is key to ensuring the integrity of our elections,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “Bottom line, there is no legitimate reason to keep ineligible voters on the rolls.”

State officials said they are notifying those affected by the upcoming cancellations, and voters have 40 days to save their registrations before they are eliminated. People whose registrations are canceled can also re-register.

Voting rights advocates rebuked Raffensperger over the cancellations, saying they would also be reaching out to people on the list to ensure their registrations are not removed.

“The last time Secretary Raffensperger conducted a massive voter purge, he was forced to admit 22,000 errors — 22,000 Georgia voters who would have been kicked off the rolls were it not for Fair Fight Action’s diligence. We’ll be reviewing the list thoroughly and reaching out to impacted voters,” Lauren Groh-Gargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

Critics argue that such cancellations amount to “voter purges” and that the state government is unjustly punishing voters who did not participate in recent elections. 

The latest removal marks 1.4 percent of the Peach State’s 7.8 million registered voters but is smaller than one in 2017, which marked the country’s largest voter cancellation and eliminated 534,000 voter registrations. 

Raffensperger has found himself on the receiving end of a flood of attacks from former President Trump and his allies after he refused to overturn President Biden’s victory in Georgia in 2020. However, the governor has been vocally supportive of “election integrity” measures to restrict access to voting.