Effects of Voter Registration Purging in Georgia During the 2018 U.S. Midterm Elections

Abstract

The Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which mandated Federal oversight of election administration for counties with histories of voter suppression. One result of this decision has been the increase of systematic removal of voter registration records, termed voter registration purging or voter purging by voting rights advocates. Despite the high stakes nature of elections, limited empirical research has been conducted to study the effects of this practice, especially when compared to other policies designed to limit voting. Therefore, this project looks at what influences the purge rate itself along with its effect on turnout and state election outcomes to determine the relationship between voter purging and voting policy metrics. The primary data set for analysis is the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) with supplemental data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the CQ Voting and Elections Collection. This study is confined to Georgia as the entire state was subject to Section 5 and has been accused of using voter registration purges as a tool to suppress voter turnout. The results of this project significantly contribute to the study of election policy by verifying a significant and negative relationship between the voter purge rate and turnout and between voter purge rate and the proportion of votes captured by the Republican senatorial candidate. While the first finding is important for voting rights activists, the second runs contrary to election goals of the Republican Party given their established record of encouraging more aggressive voter registration purging. Therefore, these results have significant policy implications for groups and demonstrate the need for more empirical analysis of the effects of voter purging.