“This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the annual
purge.”
“Your government thanks you for your participation.”
The purge...it’s coming.
No, not that purge...
This one.
“What’s known as the purging of the voter rolls.”
“Election purging” “Election purging”
“Purging” “The Purge”
“Voter purge” “Purges people from its voter rolls”
“125,000 voters”
“Purged from the voter lists”
But... what exactly is a voter purge, and how scared should we be?
Voter purges happen when state election officials attempt to clean up the list of eligible voters,
to filter out anyone who is ineligible:
The deceased
or people with disqualifying criminal convictions
or anyone who might have a duplicate registration
because of a change of address.
The problem is, when purges are done wrong, they can get rid of legitimate voters from
the roll without them knowing...
Or when it’s too close to an election to
allow them to vote.
Some states, like Georgia, purge voters by applying “exact match” standards, where
each number and letter in voter registration paperwork, down to hyphens and middle initials,
must exactly match the information on your government documents.
Take, John-Paul Doe for example.
He’s got a name with a hyphen in it.
And this is how it’s written on official documents like his driver's license.
If his voter registration form is missing that hyphen...
That can get John-Paul kicked off the list of registered voters, and unable to cast a
ballot.
Purged.
Other states have found a loophole with “use it or lose it” laws.
If a registered voter skips an election, they get a mailer from local election officials
to confirm their information.
If they don’t mail it back, and then miss two more elections, the state can take them
off the list of registered voters.
Purged.
Ohio has one of the strictest laws which allows them to initiate this removal process if you
skip even just a single federal election.
Earlier this year the Supreme Court upheld that law, paving the way for other states
to do the same.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, widespread voter purges between 2014 and 2016
have led to the removal of almost 16 million US voters from the rolls.
That’s almost 4 million more names purged from the rolls than were purged between 2006
and 2008.
So, what accounts for the increase?
For the first explanation, we have to go back to 2009.
Back then, Democrats fully controlled 27 state legislatures.
But if you look at the map of party control
right before the 2018 midterms, you can see it’s a lot more red.
When Republicans took control of these states, they passed new laws making it harder to vote.
All in the name of...
“Voter fraud”
“Allegations of voter fraud” “Claims of widespread voter fraud”
But here’s the thing: research shows the paranoia far outweighs the amount of voter
fraud that actually happens.
Multiple investigations have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
One study that looked at voter impersonation nationwide between 2000 and 2014, found just
35 total credible accusations of fraud.
That’s out of more than 800 million ballots cast in general elections alone.
So if that’s the case, why does the myth
of widespread voter fraud live on?
In part -- because the myth fuels policies like purges.
The purges disenfranchise minority voters, who tend to move more often and are more likely
to have common last names that can trigger false duplicates.
These voters tend to lean Democratic.
So by suppressing their votes, it can become an electoral strategy.
Part of the game plan for keeping this map red.
Republican politicians have said as much.
“We want to do everything we can to help our side.
Sometimes we think that’s voter ID, sometimes we think that’s longer lines.
Whatever it may be.”
There’s another reason for the increase in voter purges.
A monumental Supreme Court decision in 2013.
“The Court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act.”
“Voting Rights Act was gutted” “Gutted”
“Gutted” “Guts the entire Voting Rights Act.”
The law had a key requirement for states and districts that historically discriminated
against minorities: to alter their election laws, they’d have to get federal approval
to make sure the laws weren’t discriminatory.
But in 2013, when the Supreme Court struck down the Voting Rights Act, Republican-controlled
southern states passed an unprecedented wave of voter suppression laws.
Few GOP politicians embody this trend more than Georgia’s Brian Kemp.
While he was running for Governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams, Kemp, as secretary
of state, was in the unique position of regulating his own election.
Kemp oversaw the purging of 1.5 million voters.
One report found he purged over 100,000 people, largely for not voting.
And another report found that of the 53,000 voter registrations on hold for violating
the state’s “exact match” standard…70 percent were filed by black residents.
So, how can you prevent the purge from happening to you, the voter?
For starters -- prior to elections, make sure your registration matches your government
documents, and if you get mail from the board of elections trying to confirm your details,
respond to it.
But if you show up to the polls and see that your name isn’t on the rolls...you can ask
to fill out what’s called a provisional ballot.
These can still be counted after local election officials confirm your registration.
And then report your registration issue to your local board of elections and to your
state’s attorney general’s office—some have hotlines for these types of election
day issues.
Because no matter where you live, your vote
should count.