Shot…
Meet State Rep. Josh McLaurin, a Democrat representing Georgia’s 51st congressional district. Rep. McLaurin tweeted this letter that alerted him that he was being purged from the voter rolls because he either sent a change of address form into the USPS, he has not voted or updated his registration in the past 3 years or mail sent to his official address has been returned to sender.
Rep. McLaurin tweeted, “Just received this mail letting me know I’m getting moved to “inactive” voter status if I don’t take action. I’m lucky to notice it. It’s already hard enough for people who feel the system is broken and gerrymandered and their votes don’t count. Must they be purged, too?”
Just received this mail letting me know I’m getting moved to “inactive” voter status if I don’t take action. I’m lucky to notice it. It’s already hard enough for people who feel the system is broken and gerrymandered and their votes don’t count. Must they be purged, too? pic.twitter.com/LC4oo2e64O
— Josh McLaurin (@JoshforGeorgia) February 5, 2019
Chaser…
It was No. 1 on the list above: He sent in a change of address form to the USPS:
Hi Amanda – when I was considering moving to a different unit in my apartment complex, I did a USPS change of address briefly before cancelling it the next day. The cancellation apparently didn’t process with SOS. 1/2
— Josh McLaurin (@JoshforGeorgia) February 5, 2019
In other words, the system worked PERFECTLY as the state sent this notice to him immediately at his last known address before he actually moved so he would not be disenfranchised. MYSTERY. SOLVED:
Mystery solved.
You filed a change of address.
Wow. This isn't hard.
— SarcasticWhiteGuy (@cynicalwhiteman) February 5, 2019
No, the larger point is that the state should be moving people to “inactive” when they move. Why is this so hard?
But the larger point here is that an aggressive approach to purging people from rolls will create moments like this where people don’t expect to be deregistered but could be. We should be making it easier for more people to vote, not harder. 2/2
— Josh McLaurin (@JoshforGeorgia) February 5, 2019
FWIW, SCOTUS ruled Georgia’s law constitutional last year. From the AJC:
By a 5-4 vote that split the conservative and liberal justices, the court rejected arguments that the practice violates a federal law intended to increase the ranks of registered voters. A handful of other states also use voters’ inactivity to trigger a process that could lead to their removal from the voting rolls.
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