Ohio elections chief taps advocates to find inactive voters

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Ohio elections chief taps advocates to find inactive voters

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press

June 26, 2019 12:49 PM

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FILE – In this Nov. 6, 2018 file photo, Frank Larose speaks at the Ohio Republican Party event, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio’s elections chief, Larose, launched a program Wednesday, June 26, 2019, that will enlist the help of community and social service groups to find voters who are at risk of being removed from the state’s registration rolls.


Tony Dejak, File

AP Photo


COLUMBUS, Ohio

Ohio’s elections chief launched a program Wednesday that will enlist the help of community and social service groups to find voters who are at risk of being removed from the state’s registration rolls.

The initiative is included in an order that Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued to the 88 county election boards in Ohio, a perennial battleground state. It requires them to send his office names for a “registration reset list” he plans to share with local organizations that work closely with populations vulnerable to removal.

“I want to partner with some of these community organizations that are, in many cases, better equipped than any government office to actually go out and find people in the communities, because they are local, on-the-ground, grassroots organizations,” LaRose said in an interview.

LaRose’s order maintains Ohio’s stringent “supplemental process” for removing voters from the rolls. Voters who have failed to participate in election activity from a given address for two years are sent a confirmation notice that triggers a four-year clock for canceling their registration.

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Opponents of that process have argued unsuccessfully in court that it’s illegal for the government to remove a voter from the rolls for inactivity. They contend that Ohio’s rule disproportionately affects black, low-income, transient or student voters, all of whom traditionally lean Democratic.

LaRose’s order does require boards to send “last chance notices” to registrations flagged as inactive, a voluntary extra step in the process, and also to share those names through the outreach initiative to community groups.

A representative of the county boards said he is optimistic the program can identify any additional voters interested in staying on the rolls.

“It’s helpful to have good, clean lists,” said Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. “We want everyone to be registered who can be registered. If there are groups that can take the information and do something with it, that’s great.”

LaRose said he plans to share the registration reset list with the Urban League, NAACP and various voting rights groups, among others.

He argues that most registrations eventually purged from Ohio’s voter rolls after not returning state confirmation notices represent duplicates or voters who have died or left the state — but he hopes his latest initiative can help find eligible Ohioans on the list who want to remain registered.

LaRose said he is legally compelled to carry out the supplemental process, but that doesn’t mean he believes it can’t be improved.

“It’s the right thing to do to maintain accurate voter lists,” he said. “The current way that we have for doing that, just because it’s been upheld by the Supreme Court as constitutional doesn’t mean it’s optimal. As I’ve been saying all along, it’s antiquated and we want to put a better process in place.”

Beyond requesting help from community groups, LaRose said he is also working with a bipartisan group of legislators on a bill that would modernize the way Ohio handles voter registration and render the supplemental process unnecessary.

He said he hopes to introduce that bill within weeks.

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