Inactive Status
What does ‘Inactive’ mean on the voter roll?
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A person registered on the voter roll is moved to ‘Inactive’ status when ballots or election-related mail to them is returned to the Elections Office as undeliverable.
Can someone be put on ‘Inactive’ status if they don’t vote regularly or at all?
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No. Voting is not mandatory, so no voter is moved to ‘Inactive’ status only for not voting regularly or at all.
What happens when someone is ‘Inactive’?
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They don’t get ballots and they just sit on the voter roll.
Do people stay ‘Inactive’ forever?
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No. ‘Inactive’ people either return to ‘Active’ status by updating themselves with their Elections Office or they’re removed from the voter roll if they have sat ‘Inactive’ through two federal general elections (e.g., for 4 years).
When does the clock start on being ‘Inactive’ for purposes of removal?
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That one’s a bit like nailing Jell-O to the wall. It should be the original date the person is noted on the registration system as ‘Inactive’. That said, a combination of the vagaries of the registration portal (VoteWA) and the number of human and automated workflows feeding into it mean anyone’s ‘Inactive’ start date can end up changing to a later date. It’s not quite an exact science.
Are there a lot of ‘Inactive’ people on the voter roll?
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A fair few. The rate tends to hover at 9% – 10% of the voter roll, so roughly 500,000 people.
Why does ‘Inactive’ status even exist?
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Formalized ‘Active’/‘Inactive’ status didn’t exist before the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, also known as the “motor voter” law. This status distinction was implemented nationally to harmonize how states deal with people who move house without telling their Elections Office they’ve moved.
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In practical terms, there’s little to distinguish being on the voter roll in ‘Inactive’ status and not being on the voter roll at all. In both cases, you need to give the Elections Office your details to get a ballot.