Luzerne County continuing inactive voter registration purge

Luzerne County’s voter registration may be shrinking again.

In June, the county purged 17,420 voters from its registration due to inactivity, which reduced its count of voters to a current 202,202.

Now another 16,373 county voters have been flagged for possible removal over coming years because they have moved and did not notify the election bureau, said county Election Director Bob Morgan.

The county sent letters to the impacted voters in July based on outside notification of address changes that are different from the ones in which they registered to vote, he said.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and U.S. Postal Service indicate they have moved, but these voters did not tell us,” Morgan said.

He was surprised at the volume of address changes and said the current addresses of voters must be accurate to ensure they are casting ballots in the correct jurisdiction. Some may stem from college students who registered here and have since relocated, he said.

Voters who respond to the bureau’s communication with their current address will be recorded in the correct polling place within the county, if applicable.

The county will notify the appropriate county if they are residing somewhere else in the state. There is no nationwide system allowing communication of voter address changes across state lines.

Voters are supposed to update their registration if they have changed their address and can do so by checking the address change box on a registration form completed online, by mail or in person. Information is available at vote.pa.gov.

Those who do not respond to the bureau’s recent notification will be purged if they fail to present their correct proof of address and vote after two federal elections have passed, Morgan said.

Because the 16,373 have different voting histories regarding casting ballots in federal elections, Morgan said he does not have a breakdown on the number who will be purged before the 2024 presidential election.

The county election bureau completed the June purge in response to a litigation threat.

Judicial Watch Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, had informed the county May 3 it would file a complaint in 90 days if the county did not complete a purge as required by the National Voter Registration Act.

A blanket purge had not been completed since the county switched to a home rule government structure in 2012, county Assistant Solicitor Michael Butera had told the county election board.

Morgan, who was hired as election director in April, said the bureau will be sticking to a set schedule of letters to voters with address changes, which may reduce the volume in future mailings.

Purges make voter turnout figures more accurate, observers have said.

“This is part of an ongoing process of cleaning up,” Morgan said.

Impact

Both county political parties took a hit in the June purge, with Democrats losing 9,413 voters and Republicans reduced by 4,929.

The number of voters unaffiliated or with other registrations decreased by 3,281.

As it now stands, the county has 95,291 Democrats, 81,081 Republicans and 25,830 voters with other or no affiliation, state records show.

If all 16,373 voters newly flagged as inactive are eventually removed, it would reduce the county’s registration to 87,016 Democrats, 76,322 Republicans and 22,491 other, for an overall total county registration of 185,829.

That would reduce the gap between Democrats and Republicans from a current 14,210 to 10,694.

Of course, this projection is subject to unknown factors, namely the possibility that at least some of the inactive voters will be reactivated and new voters will be added to the rolls.

Oct. 18 is the deadline for voters to register for the Nov. 2 general election.