Study: States with racial discrimination history purge voter rolls more aggressively

States with histories of racial discrimination had higher rates of purging registered voters from voter rolls than other states, according to a report released Friday.

The report from the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice analyzed voter rules, statues and voter rolls for states across the U.S. in identifying voter purges and highlighted the efforts by southern states with histories of discrimination toward minority voters.

Nine southern states previously had to get approval from the Department of Justice to change voting policies under a provision in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court struck down that measure in 2013.

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“Across the board, formerly covered jurisdictions increased their purge rates after 2012 more than noncovered jurisdictions,” the report found.

The center highlighted Texas, Georgia and Virginia as states impacted by the 2013 Supreme Court ruling with higher rates of voter purging.

About 750,000 more names were removed from Georgia voter rolls between 2012 and 2016 than were removed between 2008 and 2012, according to the analysis.

Texas was found to have purged 363,000 more voters between 2012 and 2014 than during the two years prior, and Virginia removed more than 379,000 more names from voter rolls from 2012 to 2016 compared four years prior.

The analysis also found that election officials across the country were more aggressively removing voters from the rolls, adding that “many states lack sufficient safeguards to detect and correct problems so that any harm can be repaired in advance of an election.”