Critics of voter purges view the Republican strategy as a form of voter suppression.
This summer, Georgia will purge nearly 500,000 inactive voters from the state’s voting rolls to stop alleged voter fraud.
Blake Evans, the Secretary of State’s Office’s elections director, said, “We do this to keep our voter list accurate. We want to make sure we have the most accurate voter list in the nation.”
The Secretary of State’s Office will remove approximately 455,000 residents off the voter rolls in June.
Fox’s Atlanta affiliate reported, “The Electronic Registration Information Center, ERIC, reports when a voter has moved out of state and is no longer eligible to vote. According to ERIC, 170,000 voters appeared to have moved. The state says 100,000 people have not voted or had any contact with election officials for at least nine years.”
In effect, Georgia will implement a “use it or lose it” law, where a resident will lose their voter registration if they do not contact election officials over a five-year period or do not vote in the next two general elections.
Evans added, “It’s very fair and it’s in accordance with state and federal laws.”
However, many critics are raising concerns about the new “use it or lose it” voter policy.
Helen Butler, executive director of The Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, said, “That many people, I’m really concerned that eligible voters will be removed and shouldn’t be removed. You still live in Georgia, you’re still a resident, you should be able to vote.”
Butler added, “There are a lot of people who are being removed just because they haven’t voted in an election cycle, two presidential election cycles. People of color, those in underserved communities, and residents of rural areas often lack transportation to vote.”
She said that she is also concerned that residents with unreliable mail service might get disenfranchised as well as those who have lost their homes or have other legitimate impediments to voting.
Many residents deal with long-term health challenges, which might impact their ability to cast a vote.
What happens after they have overcome their health challenges?
Will they have lost their right to vote simply because of an illness?
Atlanta’s Fox 5 said the agency will publish a list of cancelations in July.
Additionally, voters will have the opportunity to contact county election officials to ensure their names remain on the voter rolls.
The Richmond, Ga. County Board of Elections Executive Director Travis Doss said notifications to voters in danger of being purged from rolls will be delivered via mail.
Doss said, “Anyone who did not have any activity during the 2022 and 2024 general elections, they will receive a notification telling them that they are going to be removed, unless they respond to the notification, stating that they do not wish to be removed.”
He added, “The reason why the list is so high this time is because it’s showing that cross-match where people didn’t respond to the notice, and now two federal elections have gone by, and now, they’re actually being removed from the list.”
Doss explained that even if voters get removed from the rolls, they can still get reinstated.
He said, “If you’re in an inactive status, there are ways to become active again. But yes, if for whatever reason, you are removed and you realize you’ve been removed, all you have to do is register again.”
President Donald Trump has led the charge to eliminate alleged election fraud.
However, President Trump tried to fraudulently steal the 2020 election from former President Joe Biden with the “Big Lie” that the election had been stolen from him because of fraud.
Trump attempted to get Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to find him enough votes to steal the 2020 election from Biden.
He lost dozens of lawsuits claiming election fraud after the Nov. 2020 election.
And his lies led to an insurrection, as his supporters violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Despite regaining the White House in 2025, Trump is still determined to find widespread voter fraud.
As a result, he recently issued an executive order that will force voters to prove they are American citizens.
On March 29, Christina A. Cassidy of The Associated Press reported, “President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to change how U.S. elections are run is creating uncertainty for state and local election officials and worries about voter confusion before the next federal election, the 2026 midterms.
“Election officials were already dealing with the loss of some cybersecurity assistance from the federal government and now face the potential for major changes that include a new voter registration requirement, decertification of certain voting systems and stricter ballot deadlines for many states.”
Recently, Connecticut spent $20 million on ballot scanners.
They are hopeful that the new scanners are acceptable under Trump’s new executive order.
Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, a Democrat, said, “It’s not like states have millions and millions of dollars that they can just upgrade their election equipment every couple of years. Imagine people purchased new equipment and now it no longer can be used. There is no remedy for that in the order.”
Because Trump’s executive order will face legal changes, states are concerned about upcoming elections.
“I have no idea what the timeline is for things in the executive order,” said Joseph Kirk, who oversees elections in Bartow County, Ga. “I really hope we have some clarity on some of this stuff soon because no matter what the answers are, I need to take care of my voters.”
