Alabama voter registration purge

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - In Alabama, there are more than 3.5 million registered voters. WAFF found out voters get purged from the list daily.

A lot of people in the Tennessee Valley view voting in elections as a duty and a privilege. But if you sat out during the Biden Trump election, you might have issues voting in the coming up primary.

“People are removed from the voter rolls because of lack of participation and that process takes place in January after each presidential election. it’s a process we use because it’s prescribed by federal government,” said Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill.

Since 2015, Merrill says his team has removed more than 1.4 million voters from the rolls.

“We removed those people from the voter rolls because they moved out of state, they passed away, or they’ve been convicted of a disqualifying felony,” said Merrill.

During Wednesday’s Madison County Commission meeting, Commissioner Violet Edwards announced she’s heard of people who were wrongfully removed. She’s aware of lawsuits against the secretary of state to fix the problem.

“What we found is, there are a lot of people in Madison County, namely a lot of our students who move often, who were purged from that list, so they got to the polls, only to find out their name wasn’t on the roll,” said Edwards.

Merrill says his team did nothing wrong. Madison County Probate Judge Frank Barger says, there are easy steps you can take to make sure you’re registered and eligible to vote in the primaries scheduled for May 24.

“If you need to verify your registration, it’s as simple as going to MadisonCountyVotes.com or to AlabamaVotes.gov and you can verify your registration online,” said Barger.

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