MADISON – Wisconsin voter records will be cleaned up, removing hundreds of thousands of names from inactive voters, those who have died, moved to another state or haven’t voted in the last four years.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted on the plan Tuesday, saying voters will be notified and will have a chance to remain registered to vote if they chose to.
The commission has identified 389,000 people who fit the bill of being inactive on the voter registration rolls.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Those people will receive postcards allowing them to update their voting information within 30 days. If they don’t do that, they will be removed from the voting rolls.
Together, the various classes of voters who will be sent postcards could total nearly 800,000 people, or about 20% of Wisconsin’s 3.8 million registered voters. The commission does not have a precise estimate on how many will get postcards because there is some overlap for the groups of voters officials have flagged.
In the past, the vast majority of people who are sent such postcards have ultimately come off the voting rolls.
The election commission unanimously approved the plan for sending the postcards. The commission consists of three Democrats and three Republicans.
Mailing the postcards is expected to cost taxpayers up to $233,000.
People who are removed from the voting rolls who later decide to vote will be able to register to vote again in the offices of local clerks, online or at the polls. Wisconsin allows voters to register to vote on election day.
For more on the voter clean-up process, visit Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
