Voters with ineligible addresses may be removed from voter regis - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

Voters with ineligible addresses may be removed from voter registration list

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By Mark Barber - bio | email
AUGUSTA, GA (WFXG) -

Out of Richmond County's 109,000 registered voters, 33 do not live at the address where they have their voter registration, according to Lynn Bailey the Director of the Board of Elections.

Bailey says that Georgia law requires a person to be registered at the place where they have their habitat.

Even though some of the 33 people did vote in the past election, Bailey says she don't suspect any voter fraud.

"In not a single instance did a person not register to vote from an address that was vacant," she said.

Instead, Bailey says it looks like people changed homes but didn't change their registration.

"They were registered to vote and there was a house there and then they moved and then the house was gone and they didn't change their registration," said Bailey.

About one third of the people registered under ineligible addresses are registered at what are now empty lots; such as the Berckmans Road parking lot for the Masters Tournament and abandoned lots in the Laney Walker district.

The other two thirds of people who are under scrutiny are registered under a business address. Of those, about a dozen voters are registered at the UPS locations on Wrightsboro Road and Washington Road.

Bailey says that happened when voters renewed their driver's license with their mailing address and that carried over onto their voter registration. 

So far, the board has mailed two letters to the individuals, asking them to update their registration information. But now they're advising them to come before the board for a hearing.

"By setting up a hearing it's challenging these individuals eligibility to be a registered voter in Georgia. So we'll send the notices out, we'll invite these people to come in and talk to us and explain their situation to us and the board will determine whether to keep them on the list here or not," said Bailey.

Bailey says the hearing will be at the Board of Elections meeting on February 11 and if the people are considered ineligible they will be removed from the list of voters.