Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office has directed county board of elections to remove 499 noncitizen registrations from the state’s voter rolls as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen election integrity ahead of the November 5 general election.
“I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of our state, and that document clearly states that only United States citizens can participate in Ohio elections,” LaRose said in a statement.
“That means I’m duty-bound to make sure people who haven’t yet earned citizenship in this country aren’t voting. If or when they do become citizens, I’ll be the first one to congratulate them and welcome them to the franchise, but until then the law requires us to remove ineligible registrations to prevent illegal voting,” LaRose added.
American elections are only for American citizens. Today, I’m ordering the immediate removal of 499 non-citizen voter registrations found as a part of our comprehensive audit using SAVE data.
We need to pass #SAVEAct and require these standards nationally.…
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) August 1, 2024
The removal of noncitizen registrations is part of a multiphase audit of Ohio’s statewide voter registration database ahead of the November general election.
In May, LaRose’s office, using Bureau of Motor Vehicles records, identified an additional 136 noncitizens voter registrations. Eighty out of the 136 registrations are currently being removed by county boards of elections.
Last week’s removal of 499 noncitizen registrations were identified by LaRose’s office both through records from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database system.
LaRose’s office confirmed that investigations into the citizenship status of voter registration records “remain ongoing,” and “additional removals may be ordered ahead of the November general election.”
In addition to removing noncitizen registrations, LaRose’s office is focused on removing inactive registrations ahead of the November general election.
In June, for example, LaRose’s office ordered the removal of nearly 155,000 registrations confirmed to be abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years.
Ohio U.S. Representative Mike Carey (R-OH-15) applauded LaRose’s efforts to strengthen election integrity ahead of the general election, saying, ”Non-citizens have no place in our elections…We are grateful to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for his decisive action to remove noncitizens from our voter rolls and thank him for his work to safeguard democracy in our state.”
My statement on Ohio Secretary of State @FrankLaRose purging non-citizens from voter rolls: pic.twitter.com/XGlzkXRORF
— Congressman Mike Carey (@RepMikeCarey) August 1, 2024
Ohio currently ranks 13th in the nation in maintaining the most secure elections, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard. The Buckeye State’s score is 74 out of 100 on the scorecard, which is regularly updated as states make reforms and changes to their election laws.
Despite Ohio’s above-average ranking, the state is only awarded one out of four points in the Verification of Citizenship category, as the state partially uses the SAVE Program to help identify non-citizens who register to vote.
Instead, the state regularly uses citizenship information from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles annually for purposes of voter registration list maintenance.
In addition, Ohio state election officials do not utilize state and federal jury information to verify citizenship, which, according to the Heritage Foundation, would boost the state’s election security.
In November 2022, 76.9 percent of Ohio voters voted in favor of the Citizenship Voting Requirement Amendment, a constitutional amendment prohibiting local governments from allowing noncitizens or those who lack the qualifications of an elector to vote in local elections.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Ballot Processing” by NJ National Guard CC0.
