NEW YORK -- Baseball's Hall of Fame is cutting the number of voters in its annual election by eliminating writers who have not been active for more than 10 years.

Before the Baseball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday it would eliminate voters who were not active writers for more than 10 years, there were 650 people eligible to vote. AP Photo/Mike Groll

The change was announced Tuesday by the Hall's board of directors.

Until now, the electorate has included people who have been active members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America for 10 consecutive years at any point.

The Hall says in a statement that "BBWAA members previously holding Hall of Fame voting privileges who are no longer active in the game and are more than 10 years removed from active status will have the opportunity for annual reinstatement, based on their coverage of the game in the preceding year."

Before the change, about 650 people were eligible to vote.