07/12/2022
Neighbors,
Sharing a critical issue regarding voter registration here in Georgia.
When the Georgia Department of Driver’s Services redesigned their web site in early 2021, what seemed like an insignificant change had a dramatic impact on voter registrations in Georgia. Since implementing automatic motor registration in 2016, over 80% registered to vote simultaneously with getting their driver’s license, with an “opt out” feature. The new web site changed this to “opt in”, requiring additional action to be registered to vote. This change resulted in a sudden drop of registrations by more than 50% over a 15 month period. Voting advocates identified the issue this spring and Driver’s Services has corrected the web site, but there was no outreach to impacted residents.
Here in Dekalb County, this has resulted in a 10% decrease of registered voters, 53,818 less than our high in January 2021 of 554,852. We went from nearly 94% of the voting age population registered to 84%.
What can you do?
Check your registration status on My Voter Page at https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/
Encourage your neighbors, friends and family to check their registration status, especially if they obtained a new driver’s license since January 2021
Share this information on social media or community/group newsletters
Volunteer in voter registration drives in your community (contact Janet Grant,[email protected], who is coordinating a registration drive)
The deadline to register to vote for the November midterms in October 11th, you can register on line at https://registertovote.sos.ga.gov/GAOLVR/welcometoga.do -back-button.
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions about the 2022 elections.
Thanks for being a voter!!
Janet Grant
Dekalb Dems Block Captain