FACT BRIEF

Do Georgia officials say 100,000 names being removed from voter rolls are ‘outdated and obsolete’?

Friday, June 25, 2021

By Gus Fisher

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YES

Georgia’s Secretary of State published on June 18, 2021, a list of 101,789 “outdated and obsolete” voter files to be removed from the rolls. Most of the voters had filed change-of-address cards with the post office. Election mail to others had been returned to sender. Some died.

A small number of files were removed because “the individual had no contact with Georgia’s elections officials in any way...for two general elections,” a statement said.

Updates to the rolls take place every two years; any eligible voters are free to re-register. But scrutiny is high because of past disputes. A court challenge led to the reinstatement of 22,000 registrations in 2019.

Gov. Brian Kemp was Secretary of State before his 2018 election victory over Stacey Abrams, who accused him of voter suppression during her campaign. Under his oversight the state cancelled more than 1.4 million voter registrations.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

State of Georgia Secretary Raffensperger takes action to uphold ballot integrity with major list maintenance effort

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia releases list of 102K voter registrations to be canceled

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia cancels fewer voter registrations after surge last year

AP News Stacey Abrams accuses Brian Kemp of voter suppression in Georgia elections

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