Ohio county election boards mailed final warnings Monday to more than 235,000 Ohioans who are in danger of being eliminated from the state’s voting rolls if they don’t update their information.
Last month, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a directive telling every county election board that they needed to submit an inactive voters list by mid-July. If people don’t reply, then their names would be deleted from voting pools on September 6, according to the directive.
“I am committed to partnering with the boards of elections to modernize voter registration and the General Voter Records Maintenance Program to ensure that all eligible Ohio electors are permitted to vote,” he wrote.
Larose told The Columbus Dispatch Monday that the notices will be sent “in the next couple of days” to community groups and individuals who will help Ohioans re-register to vote.
People who receive notifications can update their information at voteohio.gov.
When the number of Ohioans who might be expunged from voting rolls was announced, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown called it a “purge.” He said in a press release that the move will hurt low-income workers and families, minorities, and students in the state.
“Empowered by a Supreme Court that put its thumb on the scale for special interests over voters, politicians in Columbus are once again attacking Ohioans’ right to vote. Voting is a fundamental right in our country and today’s move threatens the integrity of our state’s election process,” he said.
In an attempt to prevent this from happening, Brown introduced the SAVE Voters Act in February to prohibit states from removing people from voters roll when they fail to respond to a notice.
In 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the “supplemental process” used by former Secretary of State Jon Husted that allowed election boards to cancel voters who didn’t respond to confirmation notices in 2013 and 2014.
Secretary LaRose formed a bipartisan group in April that is working to “modernize” Ohio elections. The group is trying to update voter registration, enhance voter eligibility registration, and transform the state’s opt-in and opt-out system.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Battleground State News. Follow Zachery on Twitter.
Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
