Voters who don’t use the ballot could lose it.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office may purge more than 190,000 inactive voters from the registered voters list this year.

Unless these voters tell election officials differently, their registered voting status could be lost.

As reported in The Valdosta Daily Times this weekend, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said 191,473 voter records previously placed into “inactive status” based on returned voter mail or from the National Change of Address list will be removed from the state’s voter rolls if no response to a mailed notice is received.

The secretary of state adds the purge is routine and legal, part of regular efforts to update Georgia voter records during non-election year maintenance.

Georgia law allows for the removal of voter registration records that have been in an “inactive” status for two general elections and people who have failed to update their records within that time.

Nearly 75,700 records have been canceled due to death or an out of state move already this year, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

And while this is a non-election year in terms of a national presidential election or a statewide election for governor in Georgia, it is not a non-election year. Municipal elections are scheduled for this November. That’s when voters will decide who their city council and school board leaders are.

In many ways these city elections have more impact on residents than electing a president or governor. City leaders make numerous decisions that affect your life from local taxes paid and how they are used, to deciding what’s in your neighborhood through zoning, to laws that can range from the number of billboards in a given part of town to the number of vehicles you can have in your yard.

And unless voters are diligent now, they may go to the polls to vote for a preferred mayoral candidate or city council member only to learn they are no longer registered to vote.

Or if city elections don’t get your attention, you may go to vote in the presidential primaries in March only to discover you are no longer registered.

So, pay attention. Keep an eye open for notification that your voting status may be in jeopardy.

Voters who receive the notices and want to remain on Georgia voter rolls should contact the county voter registration office within 30 days of receiving the notice to update voter registration information.

If you haven’t received or don’t receive a notice but have concerns your voter registration status may be at risk, you can check your voter registration status using My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov. A change of registration or an update of contact information can be made on the My Voter Page website.

And, as always, if you aren’t already registered to vote, register. Once registered, vote. It’s simple. It’s easy. It’s the right thing to do.