Grapevine

Research sheds light on impact and bias of voter purging in Michigan

In recent years, some states have prioritized purging their voter rolls of those who have passed away or moved out of state. During election season, there is often increased discussion about the necessity and impact of these actions. Voter purging can be an important step for creating election integrity, but others have raised concerns about how the process is conducted and who it targets.

So, are there negative effects of voter purging? Researchers from Michigan State University wanted to find out—especially due to the minimal data that exists about who is purged at local and state levels. What their research suggests, published in the journal Social Science Quarterly, is that voter purging in Michigan disproportionately targets underrepresented and lower-income communities. Recently, the Michigan Senate recently passed a bill to expand voter rights and accessibility in the state.

Richard "Dick" Sadler is an associate professor in the departments of Public Health and Family Medicine at the College of Human Medicine, and Thomas "Wally" Wojciechowski is an assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the College of Social Science. Together, they teamed up with community partner Eileen Hayes from Michigan Faith in Action to examine Michigan's voter purging data and found troubling elements.

"Wally and I are both methodology experts: he knows statistics, I know spatial analysis," Sadler said. But our disciplinary expertise in criminal justice and public health is also complementary, because the political system is intimately intertwined in both of these areas.

"Understanding the potential implications of which voters are being purged and where is important because protectors of democracy need to stay ahead of the ball when it comes to voter disenfranchisement, and it's not always clear which purges are legitimate and which purges target oppressed population subgroups. And so, when my community partner (Eileen) reached out to me to study this issue, I jumped at the chance and knew Wally was the right collaborator for the project."