Posted on 08/01/2017 7:08:32 AM PDT by TigerClaws
Georgia canceled the registration of more than a half-million voters over the weekend, part of an ongoing round of maintenance to clean up the state’s voting rolls.
Each of the 591,548 voters affected by the move had already been on the state’s “inactive” registration list. That means they had not voted, updated their voter registration information, filed a change of name or address, signed a petition or responded to attempts to confirm their last known address for at least the past three years.
None of the voters had had any contact with local election officials or the state since at least Sept. 16, 2014, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
The date coincides with the early-voting period leading up to the midterm Nov. 4, 2014, general election. State and federal law requires that Georgia give voters at least two federal general election cycles before it can take action to remove voters from the rolls, as it did starting overnight Friday.
“Voter list maintenance is both a statutory obligation and critical safeguard for the integrity of the ballot box,” said Candice Broce, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office. “By regularly updating our rolls, we prevent fraud and ensure that all votes are cast by eligible Georgia voters.”
The effort was part of the state’s regular off-year maintenance of the rolls, which up until this weekend included about 6.9 million voters.
Georgia removed almost 732,800 voters in its previous round of rolls cleanup between 2014 and 2016, according to a recent report from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Three-quarters of these voters were dropped because they had moved away.
This year’s effort, however, is coming at a fraught time for some civil rights advocates.
Georgia’s work to clean up its rolls unintentionally coincides with a request from the U.S. Justice Department to 44 states including Georgia asking how they remove voters from the rolls who should no longer be eligible to vote.
At the same time, a separate federal commission created by President Donald Trump to investigate unsubstantiated claims of “millions” of illegal votes cast in last year’s presidential election has also drawn ire over a query seeking personal information on state voters themselves, such as their addresses, dates of birth, party affiliations and voting histories.
Several weeks ago, the state through local county election offices also sent out address confirmation notices to more than 383,400 voters as part of its biennial cleanup effort. Such notices are used across the country to confirm whether a voter has moved outside a registrar’s jurisdiction.
Voters who receive them are told they have 30 days to respond, either to confirm their address or to indicate their new one, and risk being moved to the state’s “inactive” registration list if they don’t.
Being declared “inactive” would then start the clock ticking on the years-long process that culminates in being cut from registration rolls, although an “inactive” voter in Georgia is still legally registered to vote and by law has full access to a ballot.
“Being made an ‘inactive’ voter has consequence,” said Sean Young, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, which on Friday sued Fulton County over the fact that some of the address confirmation notices went to voters who had moved within the same county.
The group says those voters should not face the possibility of being declared “inactive” because state law doesn’t mandate such an action for that particular group of voters. The ACLU said it also believes that goes beyond what’s federally allowed.
“Intimidating and confusing voters with bureaucratic nonsense,” Young said, “is classic voter suppression.”
Fulton County officials have said they did nothing wrong by sending the notices, which are supplied by the state but mailed by local counties.
Cue the ACLU lawsuits in 5....4....3....
How many of them voted?????
Did they do this to clear the roles so we cannot check on that?
“Intimidating and confusing voters with bureaucratic nonsense,” Young said, “is classic voter suppression.”
BS.
Good start.
But every state should wipe the rolls after every election. If you want to vote in the next election, just re-register. In person. Bring ID. You have a year to get it done.
Plus paper ballots.
Plus purple ink.
They have to have a ‘victim’ to start a suit, don’t they?
All they need to find is one.
But i can see where we could say ONLY his case applies and he can be reinstated. And each one has to file suit.
Then it is just easier to re-register.
Each of the 591,548 voters affected by the move had already been on the state’s “inactive”
registration list. That means they had not voted, updated their voter registration information,
filed a change of name or address, signed a petition or responded to attempts to confirm their
last known address for at least the past three years.
Good.
That is not the responsibility of the ACLU, except the ACLU wants to increase its income by filing these lawsuits.
No, cue the inevitable people who won't read even the short excerpts and embarrass themselves before all FReepdom...
Sean Young, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, which on Friday sued Fulton County...
#deadpeopleslivesmatter
None, that’s why they are being purged..............
The second paragraph of the OP answers your questions ...
That's an interesting point. There are people who registered to vote years ago, and quite simply never saw any point in it. I wonder how many of them know they have to do something to maintain their status and that they won't be informed of that.
Anecdotally, it's something we ran into at the precinct desk where I was a poll worker in November. A few older guys (gosh, I wonder who they were voting for) showed up to vote and were surprised they had been taken off the roles. They had to vote provisional, which means those votes would not have been evaluated and counted unless it was close enough to make a difference.
The ACLU sued because "some of the address confirmation notices went to voters who had moved within the same county." The ACLU says this is “Intimidating and confusing voters with bureaucratic nonsense."
It is the citizen's responsibility to properly maintain their voter registration and that includes updating your registration when you move. The ACLU is essentially saying that voters are imbeciles and incapable of doing that simple civic task. That's much like their position against voter ID that essentially says minorities are incompetent, too lazy, or fundamentally incapable of getting a valid ID, even though that same ID is required for almost every task in everyday life. ACLU is demeaning to all voters and racist based on these actions.
Don’t be so sure it is winning. I have had my registration in CA canceled a few times. I am a white male. A couple of times I had to provide ID, yes ID to vote, and my ballot was held to be verified. None of the people who were voting who did not speak English were checked. The whole thing is a joke. The electoral college is the only thing preventing this from being a ridiculous joke.
People die, people move out of state, people commit felonies and lose the right to vote. This is overdue cleaning up, correcting, maintaining the records.
"Being declared 'inactive' would then start the clock ticking on the years-long process that culminates in being cut from registration rolls, although an 'inactive' voter in Georgia is still legally registered to vote and by law has full access to a ballot."
So "inactive" people can still vote. You are only denied the vote when you are cut from the rolls.
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