"The whole idea is to keep people on the voter registration roll."

State's voter rolls shrinking | By STEVE BOUSQUET, Tallahassee Bureau Chief | Published August 6, 2007

The trend may seem unlikely considering Florida's growth, but a closer look shows a law is behind it.

TALLAHASSEE - Despite Florida's rapid growth, the number of voters in the state has dropped to its lowest level in three years, a trend that could have an impact in a close, high-turnout presidential election in 2008.

On the surface, it's a stunning contradiction: a shrinking pool of voters in a high-growth state.

The main reason for the dropoff is a state law that requiring that in odd-numbered years, voter rolls be purged of people who have moved but never updated their addresses and those who have skipped two straight statewide elections.
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An inactive voter who skips two consecutive statewide elections is removed and must re-register to vote.

Since November, more than 63,000 voters in Pinellas County and more than 57,000 in Hillsborough County have been listed as inactive or removed from the rolls. In Pinellas, that's nearly one of every 10 voters who were registered last fall.
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"It's inane. It's just crazy," said the state's chief elections official, Secretary of State Kurt Browning. "The whole idea is to keep people on the voter registration roll." ...