One of the larger categories of reductions in the roles, outside of voter requests, was death, accounting for 42,675 removals. Other categories included duplication, felony convictions, and now out-of-state registrations.
But it was the smallest category of removals discussed at a Tuesday committee meeting that drew the most interest from lawmakers. 223 were removed from the voter rolls because they identified as noncitizens on a jury duty excuse form.
The big question for lawmakers: How did those voters get on the rolls in the first place?
Taylor Brown, general counsel for the State Board of Elections, said the noncitizen question is relatively new and the results are still being examined.
"We have forwarded all of these to the attorney general's office to further investigate. We'll find out, but when I come back this time next year, I'll hopefully have an answer from you, after the AG's office has been able to look at this," Brown said. "Is this a case of someone just trying to get out of jury duty? Is this a case of 223 noncitizens somehow registering? I don't have that answer yet because it's new, and the attorney general's office, like I say, has not fully investigated these yet."
Brown was also asked for a breakdown of the list of names removed from the roles by party, but did not have that information on hand.