Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – Wisconsin election officials are setting the stage to remove hundreds of thousands of people from the voting rolls because they have died, moved or not voted in the past four years.

The voters will be notified and will have a chance to keep themselves registered to vote.

Wisconsin Elections Commission approved the plan Tuesday to send postcards to up to nearly 800,000 voters by June to tell them they will be removed from the voter rolls if they don't update their information.

Also Tuesday, the commission certified to the Legislature that it has put in place a new system allowing people to use an online portal to register to vote, provided they have a valid Wisconsin driver's license or state ID card. The system is for registering only and voters still have to cast ballots at the polls, in clerks' offices or by mail.

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After every election for president or governor, the state sends postcards to those who are registered to vote but have not cast ballots in four years. Those who don’t respond in 30 days are removed from the voter rolls.

About 387,000 people have been identified as fitting that bill, but that figure could shrink as more analysis is done, according to the commission.

Separately, the commission has identified 389,000 people on the voter rolls who are believed to have died or moved or who might have duplicate voting records.

Those people will receive postcards allowing them to update their voting information within 30 days. If they don’t do that, they will be removed from the voting rolls.

Together, the various classes of voters who will be sent postcards could total nearly 800,000 people, or about 20% of Wisconsin’s 3.8 million registered voters. The commission does not have a precise estimate on how many will get postcards because there is some overlap for the groups of voters officials have flagged.

In the past, the vast majority of people who are sent such postcards have ultimately come off the voting rolls.

The election commission unanimously approved the plan for sending the postcards. The commission consists of three Democrats and three Republicans.

Mailing the postcards is expected to cost taxpayers up to $233,000.

People who are removed from the voting rolls who later decide to vote will be able to register to vote again in the offices of local clerks, online or at the polls. Wisconsin allows voters to register to vote on election day.

Gov. Scott Walker in 2016 signed legislation allowing people to go online to register to vote. That system went live this January.

The commission on Tuesday got a demonstration of how it works and voted to inform the Legislature that the system is now available to the public.

About 1,350 people have registered online since the system became available, according to the commission.