As part of the legal mandate to clean up the state’s voter rolls, 1,820 voter registrations in Decatur County were recently canceled by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

Statewide, 591,548 voter registrations were canceled on Friday, July 28, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

If a voter was canceled, that means they had not voted, updated their voter registration information, filed a change of name or address, signed a petition or responded to attempts to confirm their last known address for at least the past three years. Basically, none of the voters have had any contact with local election officials or the state since at least Sept. 16, 2014, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

If a voter has been canceled, they must re-register to vote. Decatur County now has approximately 15,900 active and inactive registered voters.

If a voter wants to check on their status, they may go to the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page website or call the Decatur County Board of Elections and Registration at (229) 243-2087.

The cancellations of the voter registrations are separate from the 383,400 confirmation notices mailed out several weeks ago statewide. In Decatur County, 958 of those confirmation notices were sent out.

These confirmation notices are part of the national change of address process under Georgia law that requires the Georgia Secretary of State to compare change of address information supplied by the U.S. Postal Service with electors list.

If a voter doesn’t respond within 30 days with either confirming their address or indicating a new one, that voter may be moved to an “inactive” status. By a voter being “inactive,” it starts the clock ticking on the years-long process of potentially being canceled.

Voters listed as “inactive” are still registered to vote and may vote at any time. Once an “inactive” voter contacts an elections office with a change on their voter registration, signs a petition or votes, they become “active” again.

Furthermore, these actions are separate from a federal commission created by President Donald Trump that has requested voter information from every state.

The deadline to register to vote for the upcoming countywide TSPLOST and municipal elections in Decatur County is Tuesday, Oct. 10.