Over 20,000 Milwaukee residents will get voter registrations reinstated before midterms

The state elections commission in Wisconsin on Tuesday unanimously voted to reinstate the voter registrations for 21,000 residents in Milwaukee that were dropped from the voter rolls last year. 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, announced he plans to reinstate the registrations of about 21,000 people, saying “these are people who never should have been dropped from the rolls in the first place.”

{mosads}Local officials sent postcards to nearly 340,000 Wisconsin residents who were to believed to have relocated last year. Those who didn’t respond were removed from the voter rolls, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Local election officials are exploring ways to help those who didn’t relocate get placed back on the voter rolls after it was determined many residents who received the postcards shouldn’t have due to faulty data.

About 44,000 residents in Milwaukee were reportedly dropped from the voter rolls as a result of the effort, the Milwaukee Election Commission confirmed. 

Now, the Milwaukee Elections Commission is working with the state elections commission to fix the issue.

Neil Albrecht, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, told the paper they believe 21,000 Milwaukee residents should not have been removed from the rolls. 

So, the state commission voted to allow local clerks to decide who should be reinstated.

Albrecht and Barrett told the paper they will have 21,000 Milwaukee residents placed back on the rolls for the Nov. 6 election.