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Secretary of State releases data on purged voters

Most voters were kicked off the rolls under Georgia's "use it or lose it" policy

More than a million voters were purged from Georgia's voting rolls between 2012 and 2018, with some saying they had no idea they couldn't vote. That complaint was a big one for supporters of former democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

Fair Fight Action, a group backed by Abrams, has now filed the lawsuit they promised over the state's election and what they call "gross mismanagement."

Part of their complaint hinges on voters being deleted from the state's rolls ahead of the election.

There are several reasons why someone might be cut from the state's voting records - death, a felony conviction, or not casting a ballot in at least two consecutive elections could all lead to a person's name being purged.

The federal lawsuit claims the practice of Georgia's "use it or lose it" policy disproportionately impacts the poor, the young and voters of color.

RELATED: Lawsuit filed after 53,000 voter registration applications 'pending' in Kemp's office

RELATED: Federal lawsuit aims to address ‘gross mismanagement’ of Georgia elections process

The Georgia Secretary of State Office sent 11Alive three spreadsheets that explained why 1,699,897 Georgia voters were purged. 

Of the top reasons - 468,762 died. More than 119,216 and had been convicted of a felony, but the largest number came from those wiped out due to "use it or lose it," with 890,144 voters purged. That's about 52 percent of the total number of purged voters.

RELATED: Weeks after midterm election, data released on voters purged in Georgia

While the Secretary of State's data is helpful to understand which voters were most impacted, the data has its limitations. For example, we can break down the data based on race:

  • White, not of Hispanic Origin: 986,814
  • Black, not of Hispanic Origin: 501,459
  • Hispanic: 36,131
  • Asian or Pacific Islander: 23,479
  • American Indian or Alaskan Native: 1,101
  • Unknown: 127,474
  • Other: 22,199

These numbers show black and white voters were the most impacted by the purge, but if you take a closer look, the race for nearly 150,000 Georgia voters are classified as "unknown" or "other," requiring more unavailable data for a more complete analysis.

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