COLUMBUS — Ohio’s top elections official proceeded Friday with a purge of “inactive” voters as deadline for citizens to update their voter registration information came and went, but he issued a last-minute directive that appeared to address some concerns raised by critics.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, ordered boards not to remove names that have been flagged because of apparent vendor errors.
He also prohibited the cancellation of registrations of those who appeared as inactive on his original “reset” list while simultaneously appearing in “active” status in the state's registration database.
Voters who’ve moved but did so within county limits should also not have their registrations canceled, he said.
“There has never been a more transparent, more intensive review of Ohio’s voting rolls than what we have undertaken,” he said. “Because of our collaboration with outside organizations, the proper safeguards are in place to ensure any eligible voter will have the opportunity to have their voice heard.”
No last-minute litigation interfered with passage of Friday’s deadline, clearing the way for removal of more than 200,000 “inactive” voters from the rolls. The “purge” process has been in the works for six years.
The task of actually removing the names now shifts to county boards of elections, and that will be a gradual process. In counties like Lucas overseeing municipal primaries on Tuesday, the purge will be delayed until after that election.
Counties will have until Sept. 13 to submit their final lists of cancelled registrations.
As of Friday, 12,496 people on the master reset list had acted to verify or update and maintain their registrations.
A federal judge earlier this week rejected the Ohio Democratic Party’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt a process the party contends has been fraught with errors. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously upheld the general process of cleaning up the voting rolls.
Most of those on the initial statewide list of more than 235,000 people are believed to have died or moved. The 88 county boards of elections compiled the list of those they contend have not participated in the electoral process in six years, or 12 elections, and have not responded to mailings to their last known addresses.
Among the initial 235,000-plus on the reset list were about 12,000 names from Lucas County, 1,933 from Wood, 766 from Fulton, nearly 700 from Henry, and 734 from Ottawa.
Anita Madison is the Toledo coordinator for the Ohio Unity Coalition, a nonpartisan group that is encouraging Ohio voters to check their registration status and update their information, if necessary. The group is working to develop a searchable, user-friendly database of the statewide list and hopes to have the tool up and running soon.
“People have a responsibility, I think, to go vote,” she said. “But at the same time I don’t think that gives the government the right to revoke a person’s right to vote. You don’t know what the situation is as to why they haven’t voted.”
She said there are groups across the state working to stop the purge, but the coalition is focusing its efforts on educating the voting public about the process and encouraging those deleted from the election rolls to re-register before the Oct. 7 deadline for the Nov. 5 election.
“People just really need to understand that they are set to be purged,” Ms. Madison said. “People need to act now. All they have to do is fill out another voter registration card.”
Kurt Young, Lucas County Democratic Party chairman, said he received the list of flagged Lucas County voters, but it will take hundreds of volunteer hours to track them down.
“What the secretary of state has done is given us a 12,000-person phone book with no phone numbers,” he said. “If we had a list that had phone numbers on it we would have already started phone banks.”
Party leaders are recruiting volunteers to compare the party’s voter database with the secretary of state’s list so they can try to match up phone numbers and emails. Trying to knock on 12,000 doors when the address is likely outdated isn’t the best strategy, Mr. Young said, but if volunteers can find a phone number they’ll reach out and encourage the person to re-register to vote.
He said no one should be improperly deprived of their right to vote, regardless of political persuasion.
“Some of these are legit,” he said. “Some people have moved. Some people have died. Some people just don’t care about voting anymore. But we need to make sure we’re doing this right.”
Mark Wagoner, Jr., chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party, said the best way for Lucas County residents to avoid being purged is to vote in the Sept. 10 primary election.
“The easiest way to resolve the problem is to go out and vote on Tuesday,” he said. “Voting in this state is a right, but it’s also a responsibility.”
He said he believes Mr. LaRose has been transparent about his efforts to remove “inactive” voters from the list and given people plenty of time to update their information.
“We believe it's important to make it easy for people to vote but also to make sure that people are property registered to vote,” Mr. Wagoner said. “We have to update our rolls from time to time.”
A number of voting rights groups that have been trying to contact the people on Mr. LaRose’s list contend thousands on that list should not be there. The secretary of state’s office has conceded some errors have occurred at some local boards and have been corrected when discovered.
Although the deadline has passed, voters can still double-check the secretary of state’s registration reset list — www.sos.state.oh.us/registrationreset — to make sure they were not among those initially targeted for removal.
But critics argue that’s not enough.
Mike Brickner, Ohio director of All Voting is Local, said questions raised about the process are as much about purges to come in future years as this one.
“The passage of the deadline is upon us,” he said. “We’ve continued to see concerns raised. We saw [Thursday] in Franklin County that there were inaccuracies where people were improperly moved to an inactive list.
“Even though they were not on the reset list [for this year’s purge], it raises additional questions about the accuracy of the voter registration list,” Mr. Brickner said.
He advises all would-be voters to check their their registration status with the state. That can be done at voterlookup.sos.state.oh.us/voterlookup.aspx.
If would-be voters show up at the polls to find they’ve been improperly purged, Mr. Brickner urged them to insist on a provisional ballot. This ballot of last resort will eventually be counted once a voter’s eligibility is confirmed.
Staff writer Sarah Elms contributed to this report.
First Published September 6, 2019, 7:06 p.m.
