Voter Purge

 Published in the Towns County Herald on July 23, 2025

Dear Editor,

Some 659 people who appear on the Towns County voter registration rolls may find they cannot cast a ballot come election day.  These people should receive a notice their registration may be cancelled, but since mail sometimes gets lost it is best to be proactive in checking your registration status, particularly if you haven’t voted in recent elections.

The Secretary of State announced a new round of voter list maintenance activities (commonly referred to as a voter purge) on July 10, seeking to remove almost a half-million people from Georgia’s voter rolls.  Towns Countians account for 659 of the people on that list.  The people who face removal have 40 days after the date on their notice to respond.  There is good reason to respond!

Up until the post-Civil War era the U.S. Constitution did not specifically protect the right to vote, and each State made its own eligibility rules.  Even today it is a right protected mainly through legislation and can be lost when rolls are purged.  That is concerning because the right to vote is a fundamental right even without specific protection because it gives meaning to the First Amendment’s rights of free speech, peaceable assembly, and petitioning for a redress of grievances.  Those rights exist on the air if not given substance by the right to vote.

That is why everyone should vote and keep their registration current.  Also, everyone should periodically check their registration status on the My Voter Page at https://mvp.sos.ga.gov or by calling the Towns County Board of Elections and Registration office at (706) 896-4353.  And again, if you receive a notice that your registration may be cancelled, be sure to respond within 40 days of the date on the notice.

Does your vote matter?  Kevin Entze of Washington state lost his primary in 2002 by one vote out of 11,700 cast.  Towns County has about 11,000 registered voters.  You don’t want to be the reason the wrong candidate beat your preferred choice simply because you forgot to check your registration and lost your right to vote in the current voter purge.

David W. Plunkett
Young Harris, GA