Ohio’s Secretary of State gave the green light for counties to start clearing their voter rolls again. The so-called “voter purges” were put on hold until after November’s election, following a lengthy court battle in which the U.S. Supreme Court approved of Ohio’s process.
Jon Husted, the state’s top elections official, orderedcounty boards of elections to start canceling the registrations of those who haven’t voted for at least four years and who haven’t updated their registrations.
Ohio’s process, which Husted says has been used for more than 20 years, sends notifications to inactive voters who can either return the notice, update their registration address, or vote.
Husted is asking county officials to look at voter activity from Election Day and review that with the logs of inactive registrants.
Critics have spent years fighting this method saying it’s overly aggressive and restricts voter rights.
Husted recently won the election for Ohio’s next lieutenant governor. His successor, Republican Frank LaRose, supported voter purges in the past but said he would make some changes to the process.
