The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case about the right of certain Ohioans to vote.

Which Ohioans?

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Ohioans who don’t vote, don’t respond to mail about their right to vote, and don’t reregister after being taken off the voter rolls. These nonvoting, nonresponding, nonreregistering people have a right to vote. And that right is very important to them, which is why they exercise it so assiduously and guard it so zealously.

Nonsense.

Ohio has something it calls a “supplemental process” for purging the voter rolls of people who may have moved. If, for two years, a registered voter never votes or files a registration form, the local election board sends out a notice. If that doesn’t get a response, and if four more years go by with no ballots cast by that voter, eventually the state gives up and takes the person off the rolls.

This six-year process, according to Secretary of State Jon Husted, has been in effect for two decades, under secretaries from both parties. Without it, some counties might have more registered voters than adults actually living there — as Mr. Husted said actually happened in Wood County.

Nevertheless, the A. Philip Randolph Institute sued Mr. Husted, challenging the process under federal law. A federal district court upheld the process, but the 6th Circuit reversed, so Mr. Husted asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

The Supreme Court, of course, must decide the case according to the statutes Congress has passed. Whether those convoluted laws permit or prohibit the supplemental process is a legal question best left to the justices. The policy issue is simpler: Voters ought to care enough about the franchise to take care of it.

Ohio and this country need responsible voters — people who take voting seriously enough to think about the issues, figure out where they stand, and, then, actually vote. Going six years without showing up doesn’t demonstrate that seriousness. Failing to respond to a notice about voting rights doesn’t show responsibility. And not bothering to check one’s registration doesn’t show responsibility, either.

Those who decide they want to be better citizens should be encouraged. But it’s not too much to ask that they demonstrate their responsibilities by filling out a tiny, little voter-registration form.

First Published June 5, 2017, 4:00 a.m.