Purging or Cleaning? The Controversy Behind Ohio’s Voter Roll Clearing

Portage County’s election may be a distant memory by now, but Theresa Nielsen – the county Board of Election Deputy Director – said it was a good election with few problems. As with every year, she said there are two areas of concern: turnout and, more importantly, making sure people are able to vote.

“I think that the biggest concern is making sure that all of the people who wish to vote are able to vote,” she said.

But currently, that is under threat by something called the supplemental process. Ohio’s current plan, touted by Secretary of State Jon Husted, is to remove voters from the rolls if they fail to cast a ballot in two consecutive elections. While she admits that clearing voter rolls is beneficial in cases of death or moving, Nielsen is not in favor of this supplemental process.

“I want people to vote if that is what they wish to do,” she said.
According to a press release from Husted’s office, the state has removed 680,000 dead voters from the rolls, eliminated nearly two million duplicate registrations and has information on more than 90 percent of state voters.

Husted also pointed to 52 alleged incidents of voter fraud occurring during the 2016 election.

“As I have always said, while voter fraud exists, it is rare and we hold those who commit it accountable,” Husted said in the release.

But Husted’s plan to clear inactive voters from the rolls has been met with much criticism and litigation. Freda Levenson, the Law Director of the ACLU of Ohio, went as far to say it violates federal law. The ACLU has filed several suits against the state for the process.

“People have a right to vote and they have a right not to vote,” Levenson said. “Even if the secretary is allowed to purge people for this purpose, he needs to purge them in a lawful way.”

Because of these lawsuits, Nielsen said voters have not been purged for inactivity since 2015. One of these complaints, which tackled the legality of the voter purge as a whole, was argued in the US Supreme Court. This summer, the high court approved Ohio’s process in its ruling.

But another case that is ongoing deals with the notices that Husted’s office sends to inactive voters. In theory, these letters are supposed to inform residents that they have not voted enough to keep registration, but Levenson said the notices are insufficient.

“(The law) requires that the secretary inform people of the consequences of failing to vote and it didn’t do that,” she said. “And Ohio’s Sixth Circuit (court) agreed with us and ordered that the ballots be counted in this past election.”

But as Levenson points out, the major battle against Ohio’s supplemental process has already been decided by the Supreme Court. She said it is a disadvantage to many groups of people.

“Common sense tells us that people who tend to vote infrequently would tend to be wage earners, people who depend on public transportation, people who have childcare responsibilities…” she said.

Levenson also mentioned several studies and news stories proving the process would negatively affect African Americans and other racial minority groups.

But despite the disadvantages, Nielsen said there is a monetary concern for many Boards of Election to have accurate information on who is eligible to vote in the county.

“The Secretary of State’s office requires that when we are ordering ballots, we must order 101% (of the populations of Portage County’s precincts),” she said.

One of the most common problems in Portage County comes from Kent State students.

“They move on and off campus, and they rarely let us know,” she said.
Seth Fangman is the Director of Governmental Affairs for Kent State’s student government – an officer position that works to inform students about voting registration and policy.

“USG can definitely work on making sure they are making those changes,” he said. “And (we need to work on) also informing them that they need to keep voting in elections to keep their registration.”

Even with all of these concerns, Nielsen said the one problem she is not worried about is voter fraud, which is often cited as a main reason for the supplemental process. Husted claims that the process will stop fraud such as people registering as dead residents or duplicated registrations. Nielsen said that voter fraud “just doesn’t happen,” at least in Portage County.

But that has not stopped Husted’s newest directive: ordering a “lame duck” voter purge effective January 11, 2019. Nielsen declined to comment on the directive. Levenson said the timing is interesting.

“Interestingly, the new Secretary of State takes office on January 13, just two days later,” she said. “And the new Secretary of State Frank LaRose has stated that he wants to avoid major purges.”

While newly-elected secretary LaRose, a Republican, has not directly come out against the supplemental process, he has advocated for reevaluating the process. Nielsen hopes LaRose will keep that promise.

“I’m hoping that he finds a more equitable way to do the supplemental process..equitable on the voters end and equitable on keeping the interest of the BOE in mind,” she said.

In the meantime, both women are warning voters to keep track of their registrations.