As the presidential primary race hits full gallop, the country’s constituents are paying a little more attention to politics and, perhaps, thinking about whether they are registered to vote, the process of which varies widely by state. Montana’s election rules made headlines in recent weeks, including when former Republican state lawmaker Corey Stapleton announced his bid for secretary of state and accused the current officeholder, Democrat Linda McCulloch, of “purging” thousands of voter files. “When both the elected officials and the media don’t talk about these things, bad things can happen,” Stapleton told the Associated Press.
McCulloch countered that the law requires county election administrators to cancel voter registrations for several reasons, including death, incarceration or moving out of state. Most commonly, however, the registration is canceled when someone fails to vote in three consecutive federal general elections.
Stapleton was first made aware that roughly 52,000 registered voters, or about 7.7 percent of the total, were removed after reading a Media Trackers article. The story, however, makes no accusations of purging and instead highlights an interesting trend that appears to favor Stapleton’s party.
Full Article: Purging Voters – Flathead Beacon.
The Voting News
A News Service of the Verified Voting Foundation
