Georgia's annual audit of state voter rolls now underway

Georgia annual voter rolls audit

The Georgia Secretary of State's Office announced the launch of its annual audit of the state's voter rolls. State officials are performing the annual review this summer, ahead of this year's statewide election.

ATLANTA - On Tuesday, the Secretary of State's Office announced the launch of its annual audit of Georgia's voter rolls. State officials are performing the annual review this summer, ahead of this year's statewide election.

"We have the Public Service Commission race that'll be coming up in the fall, which is, you know, a big statewide race. And then you have all your municipals this year, and then next year will be statewide. So this is a continuous process," Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger told FOX 5.

Raffensperger said they'll spend the next three months ensuring Georgia's voting records are up-to-date.

"That's part of our list maintenance," Raffensperger said. "A few weeks ago, we did our first phase of that. We identified over 400,000 people that are no longer here in Georgia."

Inactive voters will be notified by mail to  begin the process of moving them from the rolls. Officials will audit voters who haven't cast a ballot  in the past five years.

The state will use traditional list maintenance practices and new procedures to verify voter status:

Auditors will compare data from the U.S. Postal Service, other states' voter rolls and Georgia's Department of Driver's Services.

They'll also use a new tool to verify residential addresses, in an effort to keep Georgia's voter registration rolls accurate and secure.

"It all starts at the top, you know," Raffensperger explained. "Making sure that you have good data, good addresses, good residential addresses for everyone who's registered in the state of Georgia."