Voting Advocacy - Pennsylvania

Voter Purge & Caging 

Fayette County was moving forward with a purge of voters that did not appear compliant with NVRA standards. The Brennan Center contacted the county, learned more about procedures, and offered to work with the county. The Election Board decided to halt activities until after November.

In detail – Reports emerged in June that the Elections Bureau of Fayette County was moving forward with a purge of inactive voters that did not appear compliant with NVRA standards. According to news sources, the plan would have removed from the rolls any inactive voter who failed to respond to a confirmation-of-address mailing and who subsequently did not vote in November's election. The NVRA, by contrast, is explicit in prohibiting the purge of voters for their mere failure to vote. It does, however, specify measures by which a state can remove from the rolls voters suspected of having changed address: voters can be removed from the rolls only after they've failed both to respond to the appropriate notice (regarding change of address) and to vote in two or more consecutive federal elections thereafter.

The Brennan Center contacted the Fayette County Election Bureau to learn more about the plan. After the details became clear, the Brennan Center offered to work with the county in making its purge procedures compliant with federal law. Two months later, the County announced its decision to delay the original proposal until after the November election.

As Fayette County moves forward with its efforts to update voter rolls, the Brennan Center looks forward to lending continued support and advice on how best to reconcile county-wide priorities of updating voter rolls with national standards ensuring that voters aren't illegitimately disenfranchised.

Selected Press
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports purge (6/25/2008)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on county ending purge (8/8/2008)