Georgia’s Historic Voter List Maintenance serves as a National Model for Election Integrity

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger capped off 2023’s list maintenance activities, leading the nation in efforts to clean Georgia’s voter lists in advance of the 2024 Presidential Preference Primary (PPP). Secretary Raffensperger has spearheaded partnerships with the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), and Georgia’s Department of Driver Services (DDS), upholding his commitment to election integrity and taking unprecedented action to identify, correct, verify, or remove nearly 875,000 voters who likely moved in or out of Georgia, and ensure that those outdated registrations were corrected. This proactive approach ensures that voter rolls remain accurate, and elections remain free from any undue influence. “Georgia’s voter rolls are the cleanest in the nation thanks to the diligent partnerships we’ve made to secure our elections,” said Secretary Raffensperger. “Clean voter rolls mean maximum election integrity. Like any election, officials across the state are working hard to prevent any undue influence on the ballot box.” Below is a summary of all list maintenance mailings conducted throughout the year.

Among the mailings:
• 84,523 mailings were sent to voters who filed a National Change of Address indicating an out-of-county move (data provided by ERIC)
• 127,904 mailings were sent to voters who filed a National Change of Address indicating a move within the same county (data provided by ERIC)
• 100,685 mailings were sent to voters who filed a National Change of Address indicating a move out of State (data provided by ERIC)
• 82,077 mailings were sent to voters identified as moving out of State (data provided by ERIC)
• 37,285 mailings were sent to voters identified as moving within Georgia (data provided by ERIC)
• 66,711 mailings were sent to voters identified as cancelling their Georgia driver license by DDS
• 183,584 mailings were sent to voters who had no election activity in 5 years
• 191,473 mailings were sent to inactive voters cancelling their voter registration after 2 federal general elections without election activity

Georgia’s commitment to election integrity goes beyond the mailing list. Throughout 2023, election officials utilized data from various sources, including the Georgia Department of Public Health, the Social Security Death Master File, and the Department of Corrections, to cancel records belonging to deceased individuals and those with felony convictions. That effort resulted in the cancellation of 104,119 records belonging to deceased individuals. Additional data from the Department of Corrections led to 29,799 individuals being canceled due to felony convictions. Georgia election officials used data collected by DDS to identify voters who have canceled their Georgia driver’s license to get a license or ID in another state. Georgia also matches data with USCIS databases, ensuring the citizenship status of Georgia voters. This data, combined with data already received through ERIC, shows Georgia as a national leader in maintaining clean voter rolls. Voter list maintenance is required by both federal and Georgia law, helping to ensure that only eligible voters are voting. Voter list maintenance also helps make sure that Georgia voters’ registration information is accurate and up to date so that they can make sure to go to their correct polling place on Election Day. Accurate voter lists reduce errors in the registration, check-in, and post-election processes, ensuring that election officials can streamline the voting process on election day. Georgia’s proactive stance on voter roll clean-up is the example of responsible governance, prioritizing transparency, accuracy, and the preservation of the democratic process.