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AOC wants to bring missing voters back to life!
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is urging her activist followers to help her find as many as 80,000 “inactive” city voters so they can cast ballots in the upcoming elections to support Democrats.
A voter’s registration status automatically changes to inactive if the voter either does not vote in two successive federal elections or fails to respond to a notice from the Board of Elections about an address change.
“These voters are at risk of being purged from the voter file. In New York City alone, there are over 80,000 inactive voters,” Team AOC said in a note to supporters about the “New York City edition” of her “Project Reactivation” program.
The city BOE said there are 446,479 “inactive” voters on the city’s voting rolls.
“This does not prevent you from voting. Your name will still appear in the poll pads and you could still vote on the machines,” said BOE spokesman Vincent Ignizio.
“But, if you are in inactive status and you miss two successive federal elections, the law says that you are then removed from the rolls and you would have to re-register to vote.”
AOC’s campaign staff is holding a training session on Monday on how to mobilize “the most unlikely voters.”
“The stakes are too damn high,” said the AOC email blast, which was obtained by the Post. “Every Democrat’s vote must be counted so we are calling on you to join us for a training in New York City on how YOU can help inactive voters protect their right to vote and update their registration status from inactive to active.
“The pathway to win back the House is increasingly proving to be through New York State.”
The move comes as AOC is feeling out a 2028 run for president or US Senate, recently embarking on an upstate tour to Buffalo, Syracuse, Binghamton and Ithaca.
Her upstate trip included launching the “inactive voter training” program.
Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and The Bronx, is now focusing on finding inactive voters on her her home turf with Project Reactivation NYC.
Voting experts said it will be tough sledding because many or even a majority of the people on the inactive voting list are no longer local — or no longer with us.
“In most cases they moved or they died,” said Jerry Skirnik, senior consultant with Engage Voters US, which maintains voter databases and sells them to clients.
He said the AOC effort will likely reengage a small number of voters.
Skurnik said many candidates don’t buy inactive voting lists because they aren’t are reliable, easily reachable and it’s not worth the expense.
The BOE’s Ignizio said the number of inactive voters remains about the same each year, with some voters being taken off the list with evidence that they moved or died, while others are added to the inactive list.