10 US states remove 19 million voters from rolls

WASHINGTON – More than 19 million people have been removed from voter rolls between 2020 and 2022 in 10 states of the U.S. 

According to a report by the liberal think tank Dēmos, the canceled voters account for about 8.5% of the registered U.S. electorate.

The 10 states where large-scale deletions have been reported are Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin.

The most common reason for deletion was “inactivity,” i.e., failure to respond to a confirmation notice and failure to vote in at least two consecutive federal general elections.

Voters were also deleted for providing inaccurate information on felon status or citizenship.

Report says this action often disproportionately affects voters of color, naturalized citizens, and other communities.

The report called on all 10 states to modernize their deletion practices to ensure that only ineligible voters are removed from voter rolls.

The report comes amid ongoing efforts by Republican-controlled states to restrict voting rights.

In the 2022 legislative session, state lawmakers have introduced at least 43 bills that would allow or mandate problematic voter purges.

In 2023, at the time of this report, states are considering at least 28 more bills.

At the federal level, the Freedom to Vote Act was reintroduced last month after narrowly failing in the 117th Congress.

Congress had narrowly failed. Given Republican control of the House of Representatives, however, the measure has little chance of reaching President Joe Biden’s desk.