COLUMBIA, S.C. — If you haven't voted in the past four years, chances are you've received a card in the mail asking you to confirm your current address or update your new one.
If you don't complete and return it within 90 days, you could be at risk of losing your voter status for the upcoming election season.
According to the South Carolina Voters Commission, there are 167,000 voters in the state who might be losing their active voter status.
If you are one of these voters it could hinder your ability to vote in elections this year. But the commission says there's still time to turn things around before election season.
To be clear, if you vote regularly, you don't need to take further action. But if it's been a few years since you cast a ballot and changed addresses, this applies to you.
Notices are going to anyone who hasn't voted since November 2018.
With only four months until election day, state officials say there's no better time than the present to start getting prepared.
The state election commission recommends updating your registration information at least 30 days before Election Day.
“That way you can see hey, if your address has changed or is inaccurate, or has inactive due to error, you can identify that and get that resolved ahead of time before election day," said Catalano.
According to the commission, there are more than 30,000 inactive voters in the Midlands including Richland, Lexington, Sumter, Orangeburg, Kershaw, and Lee counties. South Carolina voters are reminded every two years to maintain their status as required by the National Voter Registration Act.
The purpose, he says, is to protect the integrity of the registration process and streamline the voting process at the polls.
“When you go vote, you wanna be able to check in, you want your name to be found, you wanna get valid right away," said Catalano.
To update your information, you can either visit your local voter registration office or go online to SCVotes.gov.