On Friday, Aug. 22, Georgia election officials cancelled nearly half a million voter registrations across the state. Affected voters had 40 days to respond to the mailed notification before cancellation, and only 5,500 managed to do so before the deadline.
This is one of the largest clearances of the voter registration log in U.S. history, and another point on a long list of electoral headlines in Georgia in the last several years.
Georgia’s status as a “battleground state” can feel literal at times — in just the last couple years, our state has been the setting for electoral legal clashes, presidential debates and rallies.
As voters, we should push for transparency as these developments take hold, particularly in the face of misinformation and controversies surrounding the voting process. We must consider why politicians are invested in Georgia elections, as well as the cumulative effect of how these legislative and non-legislative changes play a role in how Georgians vote.
Georgia is part of a 24-state partnership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which collects records when voters move, get a driver’s license or register to vote and change registrations accordingly. However, of the 471,000 registrations cancelled, ERIC was responsible for less than half of cancellations. The Secretary of State’s office carried out the rest, cancelling registration for voters who have not participated in the last two general elections or whose election mail was undeliverable.
Though clearing backlogs is a routine procedure, the cancellations expanded beyond the regular cancellations by ERIC. Considered in the context of the many changes to the voting process in Georgia, removing swaths of previously eligible voters from records is noteworthy.
Barriers to participating in elections in Georgia are real and well-established.
After the most recent redistricting of Georgia political maps in 2020, a 2023 court challenge resulted in a redrawing of the map on the basis of racial discrimination. Though the redrawing did not change the number of Republican and Democratic representatives, it is clear that Georgia is not exempt from system-level problems that hurt certain voting blocs.
Among these systemic issues are the high barriers to register to vote in the first place. Georgia law dictates that voters must be registered to vote 29 days before election day to participate in the election, one of the earliest registration deadlines in the country. The “Election Integrity Act of 2021” reduced the amount of time Georgia residents can request to vote by mail or absentee, making the deadline to request a ballot two Fridays before election day. Moreover, the act requires that drop box locations must be inside early voting locations and can only take place during early voting days and hours. As students, early voting in our county during a break or voting by mail is often our best option, and limiting these time windows makes it harder for us to participate in elections. This change will also affect people who physically cannot vote at a polling place as well as people who work long hours and cannot submit their vote before close.
Though not impossible to vote in Georgia by any means — Georgia reached a record high of 5.29 million voters in the 2024 general election — these changes create challenges Georgians must overcome to vote. Election security is necessary, but there are numerous safe and secure elections that have fewer obstacles to participation which exist in other states and have previously existed in Georgia. Over a third of U.S. states have same day voter registration and polls in nearly every other state are open later than they are in Georgia.
In view of the voting conversation is not just legislation, but the national narrative surrounding the democratic process.
Following the 2020 election, the Trump campaign and a Republican elector each filed lawsuits in Georgia alleging constitutional violations and fraud in Georgia elections; a federal judge rejected both cases. Despite overwhelming evidence that the votes were accurate, President Donald Trump brazenly stated that fraud had taken place. The suits continued, with former Trump attorney Sidney Powell alleging that voting machines were rigged, a case that was also dismissed. These allegations came to a head with President Trump famously calling Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and asking Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
Any one of these laws or false claims may not be enough for one to lose faith in voting systems. However, all together, it is easy to understand why someone may be exhausted from this incessant conflict over a right that is foundational to the United States.
Considering this long-standing history of Trump lawsuits and crimes regarding elections, it is unsurprising that in the last few weeks, President Trump has promised to lead a movement to end mail-in ballots and voting machines. Though he does not have the unique power to change how elections are carried out, at the very least, it brought the question of election security to the national stage. Undermining elections on the basis of misinformation with the possibility of codifying these changes into law opens up the threat of a world of more lawsuits and contests in our democratic processes in future elections.
In the U.S., the best tool we have to express ourselves is our vote. If you are a Georgia voter, check your voter registration at mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/. Make sure your voice can be heard. Remain cognizant of the discussions that affect your representation, your life and your community.