Approximately half of this county’s voter registrations flagged by the state can’t be verified, according to records from the Bartow County Elections Office.
Clearing voter rolls of those no longer eligible to vote in Bartow County was one of the issues discussed at the Bartow County Board of Elections in a called meeting Thursday afternoon.
Election officials said the Georgia Secretary of State’s office flagged 1,200 voter registrations for review. Of those, 629 remain unconfirmed – meaning election officials haven’t been able to verify whether the person lives at an address.
A portion of those fall under a business address, according to officials. That includes those living in hotels, motels, homeless shelters, and nursing homes. The list also includes those who used a P.O. box, which isn’t considered a valid address for voting registration.
Election officials send out letters to those listed at residences and businesses. Some come are returned as undeliverable. Many came in to update their information when they received the letters. The remaining 600-plus are those where the election office hasn’t gotten any response.
Election Supervisor Joseph Kirk said the board needs to consider more ways voters can make minor changes, like a change of address, easily so they can continue to vote. Some are flagged by the state don’t realize there is a problem until they try to vote. In many cases, they may have moved somewhere else in the county and don’t think to change their address on their voter registration.
He said he wants to find ways that prevent those ineligible from voting from casting a ballot without affecting the voting rights of those lawfully registered.
Kirk said he wants to find more options to handle updates before they go to a precinct to vote and for specialized groups like the homeless. There are provisions to register homeless individuals but no real way to make contact with them once they leave a shelter or to get them a ballot to mail in.
“I’m hoping over the next few years we have a better solution for this,” Kirk said.
The board approved accepting voter registration records from the election office to review. The numbers include registrations flagged for further verification.
The board also set a date for hearing a voting challenge as April 20 at 4 p.m.in the commissioner’s meeting room at the Frank Moore Administration Building.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S, Canada, the UK and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio. She is on Facebook, X, YouTube, content on Substack, and has a podcast on Rumble.