Names Pulled From State Voter Registration Lists

Thursday, August 5th, 2021 -- 10:01 AM

(WMTV) Hundreds of thousands of names were pulled from the registration lists in Wisconsin as part of a periodic effort to trim voter rolls, the state elections commission announced Tuesday.

According to its statement, the voter registrations were deactivated either because the individual had not voted in the past four years or they were on the 2019 Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) Movers List.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported more than 174,000 people were in the former category, while over 31,000 were affected the latter. “The WEC is working every day to help local election officials keep the registration lists current by identifying and removing deceased voters, people serving felony sentences, and others who are ineligible to vote,” WEC Administer Meagan Wolfe explained.

She added many of those who had not voted in the past four years and had their registration deactivated had moved and can simply re-register at the new address, while others on the list had died.

A few even asked to have their registration deactivated, she noted. Voters who want to see if their registration is still active can do so on the WEC website. The WEC’s numbers showed 186,982 people registered have not voted in at least four years.

After sending notifications that their registrations were in jeopardy, over 12,000 asked that their names not be deleted. Voters who did not respond or if the postcard notification was returned to the commission as undeliverable had their names removed.

The ERIC Movers List was created in 2019 to identify people who possibly moved. Deactivation was delayed until after recent elections to ensure people incorrectly on the list had an opportunity to vote. More than 232,000 names were on the original list.

Following multiple attempts to connect with those individual many were reached and confirmed their status. Of the remainder, approximately 37,500 people were removed as part of the 4-year deactivation program, leaving the remaining 31,000 people to be removed under this stature.

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