Deceased Georgians Targeted by Voter Registration Mailers; Raffensperger Orders Investigation

Atlanta - Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced an investigation into Ready to Register and other third-party organizations that have mailed voter registration solicitations to deceased and otherwise ineligible individuals across Georgia.

The Secretary of State's Office has received numerous reports of voter registration mailers being sent to deceased Georgians, including one instance in which a deceased family dog received a solicitation. The office is reviewing whether these mailings violate Georgia law or otherwise undermine confidence in the state's election system.

Third-party voter registration groups routinely conduct mass-mailings before major elections. Unlike Georgia's official voter registration process, these campaigns often rely on outdated commercial databases that contain inaccurate or obsolete information.

"Groups like this highlight the unreliability of commercial data," said Secretary Brad Raffensperger. "Georgia maintains one of the cleanest voter rolls in the nation through continuous list maintenance and citizenship verification. These outside organizations don't use those standards. Instead, they flood mailboxes with inaccurate solicitations that confuse voters and waste election officials' time."

“I want to thank the voters who have flagged the inaccurate mailings and sent them to our office,” Raffensperger added. “Whether checking their ballots for accuracy or keeping their own registration information up to date, voters are a crucial line of defense in election security.” 

The problems seen in Georgia mirror those recently identified in North Carolina, where the State Board of Elections publicly warned voters about mailings from Ready to Register. North Carolina election officials reported that the organization mailed registration forms to deceased individuals, used outdated voter registration forms, included incorrect election office addresses, and created privacy concerns through faulty QR codes. State officials there warned that the campaign confused voters and imposed unnecessary burdens on county election offices.

"Whether intentional or simply reckless, these mail campaigns operate like a grift- raising money and generating activity while shifting the costs onto taxpayers, election officials, and voters," Raffensperger said. "Georgia taxpayers should not have to clean up the mess created by organizations that prioritize volume over accuracy."

Georgia voters can verify their registration status at the Secretary of State's My Voter Page and should disregard unsolicited voter registration mail if they are already registered at their current address.

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Georgia is recognized as a national leader in elections. It was the first state in the country to implement the trifecta of automatic voter registration, at least 17 days of early voting (which has been called the “gold standard”), and no-excuse absentee voting. Georgia continues to set records for voter turnout and election participation, seeing the largest increase in average turnout of any other state in the 2018 midterm election and record turnout in 2020, and 2022. 2022 achieved the largest single day of in-person early voting turnout in Georgia midterm history utilizing Georgia’s secure, paper ballot voting system. Most recently, Georgia ranked #2 for Election Integrity by the Heritage Foundation, a top ranking for Voter Accessibility by the Center for Election Innovation & Research and tied for number one in Election Administration by the Bipartisan Policy Center.