In Georgia, Democrats find turning the state blue is easier to predict than pull off

NORCROSS, Ga. — Four Gwinnett County Democratic Party leaders gathered on living-room couches to hash out how to motivate voters for a runoff election in a few weeks, a Democratic presidential primary in a few months, a regular primary several weeks after that and then the 2020 general election.

But first they had a more pressing priority: In less than a month, Republican state leaders plan to purge the registrations of 330,000 voters who haven’t participated in recent elections — roughly 22,000 of whom are registered in Gwinnett County, many of them likely Democrats. They spent hours debating how best to find these voters and keep them registered, and organizing phone banks, including one ahead of a Democratic debate watch party Wednesday night.