Georgia released a list of over 100,000 voters in the state that are at risk of losing their voter registration on Friday.
The list, which was released by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office, includes "101,789 obsolete and outdated voter files," that will be removed from voter registration rolls in the state. The removal of the voter files will "ensure the state's voter files are up to date," Raffensperger's office said in a press release attached to the list.
"Making sure Georgia's voter rolls are up to date is key to ensuring the integrity of our elections," Raffensperger said in the press release. "That is why I fought and beat Stacey Abrams in court in 2019 to remove nearly 300,000 obsolete voter files before the November election, and will do so again this year."
He continued, "Bottom line, there is no legitimate reason to keep ineligible voters on the rolls."
According to the press release, the 101,789 voters at risk of losing their registration include 67,286 voter files associated with a National Change of Address form submitted to the U.S. Postal Service; 34,227 voter files that had election mail returned to sender; and 276 that had no-contact with elections officials for at least five years.
The press release stated the list includes "a relatively small 276 voter files because no-contact notifications were not sent out in 2017 due to a challenge of the Georgia law mandating that process."
"Secretary Raffensperger successfully defeated the challenge to the law and the process has been resumed," the press release said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the removal of 101,789 from the state's voter registration rolls accounts for 1.4 percent of the 7.8 million registered voters in Georgia. The removal of ineligible or infrequent voters occurs every other year in Georgia, and Raffesnperger noted in his press release that "other than the regular monthly removals of voter files for felony convictions and death, this is the first major cleaning of the voter rolls since 2019."
In addition to the 101,789 voters at risk of losing their registration, Raffensperger's office also said they have removed 18,486 voter files of dead individuals.
In 2019, Raffensperger's office was forced to reinstate 22,000 voter registrations that had previously been cancelled after those voters contacted their respective election officials prior to the cancellation cut-off date.
Lauren Groh-Gargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action, which was founded by Stacey Abrams, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that "The last time Secretary Raffensperger conducted a massive voter purge, he was forced to admit 22,000 errors—22,000 Georgia voters who would have been kicked off the rolls were it not for Fair Fight Action's diligence. We'll be reviewing the list thoroughly and reaching out to impacted voters."
Voters in the state that were placed on the list to have their registrations cancelled will have up to 40 days to respond to letters from election officials to ensure their registration remains valid.
Newsweek reached out to Raffensperger's office for further comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
