ATLANTA, GA — Nearly half a million voter registrations are set to be canceled by Georgia election officials this summer.

According to Georgia officials, around 455,000 inactive voter registrations will be canceled. It would mark one of the largest registration removals in U.S. history.

State Elections Director Blake Evans says most of those set to be canceled are voters who have moved out of state.

More than half of the registrations scheduled to be closed were identified and flagged by a 24-state organization system known as ERIC that reports when a voter has moved and is no longer eligible to vote in the state of Georgia.

Evans says the removals are important, but voting rights groups have long criticized the mass cancellation of voter registrations.

Voters will have the chance to respond if they are on the list of planned cancellations.