There are 2,417 Bulloch County registered voters included on a list released by the Georgia Secretary of States office that are listed as inactive voters. If these voters do not take action, they will be removed from the voter rolls on December 24th.
2,417 registered voters is nearly 6% of the 42,446 total registered voters in Bulloch County.
Here are some interesting highlights of the list of Bulloch County Inactive Voters:
- 1,240 of the voters on the list are over the age of 40. That accounts for 51% of the total in Bulloch County to be removed
- 192 have a Brooklet address
- 72 have a Portal
- 35 have a Register address
- 1,989 have a Statesboro address
Many of the voters on the cancellation list have not voted or registered to vote since before the Nov. 2012 election.
313,243 Statewide on list to be purged
The Georgia Secretary of State is removing registered voters from the state’s voter roles on December 24th. In total, 313,243 names have been included in a statewide list of registered Georgia voters released by the Georgia Secretary of States office. That accounts for 4% of Georgia’s voter rolls. These voters will be removed if they did not respond to official election mail or did not vote in recent elections. A new state law means that in addition to a public list, which they released in a spreadsheet, those inactive voters set to be purged from the rolls will be notified by mail before being removed.
About 109,000 voters are inactive because they did not respond to a postcard sent by the state after moving. Close to 85,000 voters are on the list because election-related mail was returned as undeliverable and nearly 122,000 registrations are set to be canceled after being declared inactive under the state’s controversial no-contact or “use-it-or-lose-it” law.
According to a story published by Georgia Public Broadcasting, Georgians that are facing cancellation were moved to inactive status if they had “no contact” with elections officials after three years. That means they did not vote in elections, update their registrations or have any contact with elections officials, then failed to respond to a letter sent by elections officials.
A law passed this year lengthens the time period to be declared inactive to five years.
From there, updated state law says inactive voters who don’t participate in elections or make changes to their registrations for two general elections after being declared inactive will get a final letter to the last known address notifying them of the cancellation if they do not respond.
O.C.G.A. § 21-2-235 (b) An elector placed on the inactive list of electors shall remain on such list until the day after the second November general election held after the elector is placed on the inactive list of electors. If the elector makes no contact, as defined in Code Section 21-2-234, during that period, the elector shall be removed from the inactive list of electors. Not less than 30 nor more than 60 days prior to the date on which the elector is to be removed from the inactive list of electors, the board of registrars shall mail a notice to the address on the elector’s registration record.
The inactive voter then has 40 days to respond to that letter, update or change their voter registration online or cast a ballot to move into active status and avoid having their registration canceled.
This does not impact an eligible voter’s ability to re-register to vote ahead of any elections in 2020.
Federal and state law also says the list maintenance must be completed “no later than 90 days prior to … a presidential preference primary.” Since Georgia’s primary is March 24, 2020, the maintenance of the voter rolls must be completed by Dec. 24.
The attention paid to the number of voters that could be removed comes as new additions to the voter rolls have exploded. Over 350,000 new voter registrations have been processed since the 2018 midterm election, and more than the 313,000 inactive voters are set to have their registrations cancelled. In Bulloch county, 4,276 new voter registrations were processed in that same period.
How to see if you are on the list
SEARCH THE VOTER LIST FOR YOUR NAME
STEP 1: Open the list at this link for the statewide list or this link for the Bulloch County list
STEP 2: Wait for the list to load. Watch the progress bar, top right.
STEP 3: Start search with the Control or Command + F
STEP 4: Enter your last name in the search box and look through records for your full name
IMPORTANT: You can double check with the State of Georgia’s source data.
Ways to get off the list of inactive voters that will be purged
-Return a postage-paid form received in the mail
-Change your address online
-Re-register to vote online
To see if you are on the list of inactive voters that will have their registrations canceled, click here.
To check your voter registration status, or to update your voter registration, click here.
