Just over a hundred names have been removed from Surry County’s voter registration rolls since the start of the year.

The removal, which Surry Registrar Sharna’ White says was initiated by the state Department of Elections rather than her office, drew a crowd of roughly 30 people to the April 14 Electoral Board meeting.

Electoral Board Chairman Bill Etchison said the 105 in Surry are among roughly 80,000 formerly registered voters statewide who were recently removed. White said the affected voters are those deemed “inactive” for two consecutive federal general elections.

State law mandates that “if it appears from information provided by the Postal Service or by other reliable sources that a voter has moved to a different address not in the same county or city” the Department of Elections or general registrar “shall send to the last known address of the voter by forward able mail, a notice on a form prescribed by the Department, along with a postage prepaid and pre-addressed return card” for the voter to provide his or her current address. If that voter fails to respond within 30 days, he or she is placed on inactive status.

According to White, the Department of Elections is required to cancel the registration of voters who remain inactive for two federal general elections, and did so on Jan. 22 as part of a list maintenance process mandated by the National Voter Registration Act.

“That is automatic” and “doesn’t occur on my side,” White told the Electoral Board. 

According to Department of Elections data, there were 5,667 active registered voters in Surry County, and another 184 inactive voters, as of Jan. 1. By March 1, the total deemed active had fallen to 5,621 and the inactive total had dropped to 101.

White shared the list of purged voters with the Times. The list shows all 105 affected voters had their registrations canceled as of Jan. 27.

Four of five speakers during the portion of the meeting reserved for public comments spoke on the matter. Charlome Pierce, a resident of the county’s Bacon’s Castle voting district, told the board she and others “do not trust” the board members.

“We’re proud of the fact that Surry County had a 76% turnout and we want to keep that,” Pierce said.

Pierce owns property in Surry and in Virginia Beach. Her name isn’t among the 105 stricken from Surry’s voter rolls. She told the Times her concern is more for voters who may be unable to respond to the mailings due to homelessness or a disability.

County resident Mike Eggleston, however, applauded the removal.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Eggleston said.

Etchison referenced a June 7 order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin titled “establishment of multi-agency data-sharing protocols regarding voter list maintenance,” which states the Department of Elections partners with local electoral boards, general registrars and their staff to maintain an accurate list of registered voters and also receives data from the Department of Motor Vehicles, Virginia Department of Health, Virginia State Police and all 133 city and county circuit courts.

“It is essential that these entities review the accuracy, validity, timeliness, and reliability of the data they provide to the Department of Elections for processing,” Youngkin’s June 7 order states.

“We’re not trying to take anybody’s vote away from them; we’re just trying to make sure you’re voting where legally you’re supposed to vote, that’s all,” Etchison said. “There may be mistrust in this board, but we’re following the guidance from the state.”

White said her office has not initiated any purge of Surry’s voter rolls.

“Something came down from the state for us to look at; OK, I’m looking at it. … It may be locally a moot question because they’ve already gotten to the 80,000 (statewide voters removed),” Etchison said.

The removal of voters designated as inactive comes amid Virginia’s planned transition this year to a new statewide voter registration system and another order by Youngkin on Aug. 7 mandating the removal of alleged noncitizen voters from the state registry.

Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Susan Beals announced in 2022 that the state had awarded a contract to The Canton Group to build and implement Virginia’s new voter registration system, which at that time had a projected go-live date of February 2025. It’s now expected to debut this summer. Since 2007, the state has used the current Virginia Election and Registration Information System, or VERIS.

Youngkin’s Aug. 7 order, titled “comprehensive election security protecting legal voters and accurate counting,” resulted in 1,600 voter registrations being stricken from the state rolls, including a Lynchburg woman who was born in Brooklyn, New York, according to NPR reporting. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the purge, overturning a federal judge’s order mandating the reinstatement of the stricken names.