ATLANTA – A mass mailing to registered voters across the state has rankled civil rights advocates and state Democrats who are calling the effort a “voter purge.”

County election officials in Georgia mailed 383,487 notices this summer to voters who filed a change of address with the U.S. Postal Service. If voters do not respond in 30 days, they are flagged as “inactive” but they are still registered to vote.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office initiates this process, which is done every other year as a way to prevent ineligible people from casting a ballot. All states perform voting list maintenance, although the exact processes vary.

“It is our duty to keep the voter rolls up-to-date, and we will vigorously defend this duty in the face of opposition,” Secretary of State’s Office spokeswoman Candice Broce said in a statement.

“By regularly updating our rolls, we prevent fraud and ensure that all votes are cast by eligible Georgia voters,” she added.

But the ACLU of Georgia has accused some local election officials of going too far. The advocacy group has sued the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections on behalf of a Fulton County voter who received what they referred to as an “unlawful notice” after she moved within the county.

The complaint argues that the state is only authorized to send “respond or become inactive” notices to those who move to another county. The group’s focus is on Fulton County, but Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, said that there are similar reports coming from other counties.

“We are very concerned about the state’s practice around these notices and their effect on registered voters,” Young said in a statement Thursday.

Some state lawmakers are also crying foul. Members of the state Legislative Black and the House Democratic caucuses held a press conference at the Statehouse this week to criticize what they called “improper” notices.

In Atlanta, there is particular concern that the notices will confuse voters as the city prepares to elect a new mayor this November, said Rep. William Boddie, D-East Point, who called the mailings “voter purge notices.”

“The word ‘inactive’ does not mean that you’re unregistered in the state of Georgia,” Boddie said. “You still can vote.”

The Secretary of State’s Office also canceled 591,548 voter records last month as part of its list maintenance. These voters are people with whom county election officials have had no contact since Sept. 16, 2014 or earlier, which marked the early voting period ahead of that year’s general election.

The state conducts this type of large-scale voting list cleanup in odd years, as directed by law, Broce said. The cancelations also included people who did not respond to a notice after a change of address, such as the ones mailed to voters this summer.

“This is not the first time that our list maintenance processes have been challenged, and I doubt that it will be the last,” Broce said, noting that a judge recently sided with the state. That decision has been appealed.

Rep. Bob Trammell, D-Luthersville, who was recently elected House Minority Leader, said he is troubled by a statutory mechanism that makes it easier to set up voters for a mass purge.

“Anytime we do that, we are imposing a government burden that voters then have to do something affirmatively – whether that’s send something back in or go in to correct their address,” Trammell said, speaking at the press conference.

“If we’re making it harder to stay on the voting rolls, then we’re having an impact on people’s ability to participate in the Democratic process,” Trammell said.

Trammell said the state should embrace policies – such as same-day registration – that make it easier for people to vote.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.