Red states purged at least 17 million voters in the last two years

A new analysis of voter data found that between 2016 and 2018, millions of people were purged from voter rolls, overwhelmingly in areas of the country under Republican-led state governments.

“At least 17 million voters were purged nationwide between 2016 and 2018,” the Brennan Center said on Thursday.

The analysis found that “counties with a history of voter discrimination have continued purging people from the rolls at much higher rates than other counties.”

The biggest source of those purges were states like Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Idaho, and Indiana, where the governments are led by Republican elected officials.

“Minority voters are more likely to share names than white voters, potentially exposing them to a greater risk of being purged,” the Brennan Center noted. ” Voters often do not realize they have been purged until they try to cast a ballot on Election Day — after it’s already too late.”

Republicans have repeatedly been caught in the act of trying to instigate voter purges as part of a systemic campaign of voter suppression. By tamping down on minority voters and other populations likely to support Democrats, Republicans seek a path to winning elections.

In June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was revealed to have authored emails plotting to purge voter rolls in his state based on absolutely false claims of “voter fraud.”

Arizona Republicans have been pursuing legislation that would wipe out 200,000 voters from the state’s rolls. That is more than twice the number of votes that decided the election between Trump and Hillary Clinton in that state in 2016.

Georgia’s Republican-led government pushed to purge thousands of voters in last year’s gubernatorial election. Brian Kemp, who was then Georgia’s secretary of state, won the gubernatorial race by a margin of 1.4 percentage points.

In power, Republicans are working overtime to purge voters and tilt the scales heavily in favor of their own political fortunes.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.