by J.D. Davidson
Ohio could remove more than 150,000 people from its voter list as it continues to remove inactive voters.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently released a list of 158,857 inactive voter registrations as part of what he calls an election integrity initiative being implemented before the November general election.
The list includes registered voters who are showing they are no longer living or active at the registered address for the last four years.
“This list has been provided to my office by the county boards of elections after meticulous work under bipartisan oversight,” LaRose (pictured above) said. “We’re at the last stage of the process, where anyone can now check the list and contact their board of elections if they want to reactivate their registration or if they believe their record might be listed in error.”
LaRose’s push, Registration Readiness, is a multi-step process that began with efforts to identify and remove non-citizen registrations from the rolls. It also included launching routine but upgraded voter list maintenance protocols, including a pilot program designed to help county boards of elections better identify registration discrepancies.
According to county boards, each name on the list has been identified as either a voter who filled out a national change of address form or are inactive registrations previously flagged for removal but not yet removed.
LaRose told boards to complete the removal process by July 22.
Also, anyone on the list can restore their status to active before July 22 by confirming or updating their voter registration either online or in person, confirming their address with an election board or Bureau of Motor Vehicles, submitting an absentee ballot application, or signing a candidate or issue petition that is verified by a board of election.
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
Photo “Frank LaRose” by Frank LaRose Ohio Secretary of State. Background Photo “Polling Station” by Paul Albertella CC BY 2.0.
