Update: The story has been updated to show that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted
Those planning to vote in the November election might find themselves unable to cast their ballots due to "voter purging" conducted by the state.
That process, by which large numbers of voters are removed from voter rolls at a single time, has come under fire within the past year from advocacy groups and state legislators who have said too many citizens are having their voter registration terminated for undue causes.
In a decision issued Friday morning, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s decision from earlier this year, ruling against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted for engaging in voter purging. According to data from the Athens County Board of Elections, a total of 27,767 Athens voters were removed from the rolls between 2010 and 2015, with 11,034 voters removed “by inactivity.”
“I think that the Secretary of State should not be purging eligible voters who haven’t done anything to become ineligible to vote,” Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, said.
Ohio uses two separate programs to identify who to remove from voter rolls. For one program, the state uses the National Change of Address Database to identify those voters who have moved. But Ohio’s “Supplemental Process” has been the subject of recent debate.
Through that process, Ohio's county boards of elections compile lists of voters who have been inactive for two years and begin the removal process, according to court documents in an American Civil Liberties Union case against the state.
Those voters are sent confirmation notices requiring them to confirm their address or provide a new one. Voters who do not respond are marked “inactive,” and if they fail to vote for four years — which includes two consecutive federal elections — their voter registration will be canceled.
has said on multiple occasions his office complies with federal and state law. The appeals court said that the “Supplemental Process” violates the National Voter Registration Act.
That law, in part, prohibits states from removing voters’ records for not voting, unless there is already evidence that they have changed their address.
“I’ve worked here 25 years,” Debbie Quivey, the director of the Athens County Board of Elections, said. “We’ve always done this. We’ve always removed people for reasons, and now all of the sudden in the last couple years it’s come to the spotlight.”
Quivey said the removal process helps maintain local rolls, which would otherwise be much larger due to Athens’ status as a college town. Students who register in Athens might move by the next major election.
But Mike Brickner, the senior policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said if a student moves after graduation and doesn’t file for a change of address, that student may not see a notice from the state.
He added the group doesn’t oppose the idea of clean voter rolls. The ACLU of Ohio has pursued the topic, according to Brickner, because the state has engaged in purging the rolls with more frequency and aggression.
The ACLU of Ohio and Demos, a public policy organization, brought a case against Husted earlier this year on behalf of the labor rights organization, Ohio A. Phillip Randolph Institute, and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.
Brickner said “the laws are really clear” that voters should only be purged after the state verifies that the voters have died, moved or are in prison, and then haven’t voted for a “significant period of time,” after being alerted by the state they are at risk of being removed from the rolls.
In June, before the most recent ruling, the district court ruled in favor of Husted, saying the state was not in violation of federal law since voters are removed from the rolls after both failing to respond to a confirmation notice and subsequently failing to vote.
But in an amicus brief filed in support of the plaintiffs before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Department of Justice argued the state cannot use inactivity to “trigger” the removal process without further reliable evidence the voter has moved, calling it “unreasonable to infer” a change in residence due to two years of inactivity.
Brickner said “an excess of 100,000 people” have been purged in recent years, and most of those being purged are people who last voted and registered in 2008.
“That was a historic election where we had very large numbers of people registering to vote for the first time and voting, particularly African-Americans and low income people,” Brickner said. “I think that a major concern is that those groups are going to be particularly impacted this year and that if you look at who is likely to show up, these voters who were purged last came to vote in a contested presidential election.”
Phillips encouraged people in Athens, whether they are longtime residents or newcomers, to double check their registration status at the Board of Elections and turn out to vote. People can also check their status at the “My Voter Information” page on the Secretary of State’s website. The Secretary of State’s website also allows Ohio residents to change their voting address online.
“There are a lot of important races this fall,” Phillips said. “I know sometimes people feel like they’re just one person and it’s not going to make that big of a difference, but I have seen elections right in our local area that have been decided by the narrowest of margins.”
