Purge
Definition
A purge is when election officials remove names from the voter roll, usually to clear out deaths, duplicates, moves, or ineligible registrations. Federal law bars systematic purges within 90 days of a federal election specifically because rushed cleanups tend to catch eligible voters too.1
Why it matters
Purges are necessary for accurate rolls, but the same list-cleaning tool can be run aggressively right before an election to strip eligible voters with little chance to fix it in time. Because purges look like routine administration, they are a low-visibility way to shrink the electorate along partisan or demographic lines.
Seen in the wild
In 2024, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin ordered daily voter-roll updates targeting people flagged as noncitizens through DMV records. Federal judges found the program likely violated the National Voter Registration Act's 90-day quiet-period rule and had removed eligible U.S. citizens, ordering the state to restore them before Election Day.2