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State Will Resume Clearing the Voter Rolls

Jon Husted
DAN KONIK
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
Secretary of State Jon Husted voting early at the Franklin County Board of Elections in April 2018

Ohio’s top elections official is giving the green light for counties to start clearing the voter rolls. This so-called “voter purge” was put on hold after a lengthy court battle in which the US Supreme Court approved of Ohio’s process. 

Secretary of State Jon Husted has ordered county 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.

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Andy Chow is a general assignment state government reporter who focuses on environmental, energy, agriculture, and education-related issues. He started his journalism career as an associate producer with ABC 6/FOX 28 in Columbus before becoming a producer with WBNS 10TV.