New MSU research sheds light on impact and bias of voter purging in Michigan

MSU Today with Russ White

The presidential election is right around the corner and Michigan is going to play a crucial role in the election results.

For MSU Today’s 2024 Election Spotlight Series, I’m talking with MSU researchers and experts who can discuss all things elections and politics. Each guest brings a unique perspective on research and work they’re doing that relates to the 2024 Election.

For this episode, my guests are Richard Sadler, associate professor in the Departments of Public Health and Family Medicine at the College of Human Medicine and Thomas (Wally) Wojciechowski, assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the College of Social Science. Together, they discuss their recent research on Michigan’s voter purge rates and patterns and the impact on different communities.

Conversation Highlights:

(1:01) – Describe your roles at MSU.

(2:21) - How did you get connected and involved together on this project, especially your connections to public health and justice?

(3:25) - What is voting purging, and why is it a process that must be discussed?

(4:21) - What are forms of voting purging?

(5:54) - Discuss the process and provide an overview of the research method.

(8:43) - How does voting purging disproportionality target minority and lower income communities?

(10:14) - How do you strike the balance between updating voter rolls and not targeting minority communities?

(12:10) - What further research and actions do you recommend to states and elections officials to increase voter access?

(13:59) – Are you planning to update your work with more recent data?

(17:17) – What about the connection between voting purging and public health?

(20:31) – What recommendations do you have to improve the process?

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