COLUMBUS – Advocacy groups are reminding Ohio voters to be vigilant about their registration status in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the state’s method of using “failure to vote” as a basis for removing voters’ names from the rolls.
The justices rejected, by a 5-4 vote Monday, arguments that the practice violates the Federal Voting Rights Act.
Secretary of State Jon Husted called it a victory for election integrity, but civil rights advocates like Catherine Turcer of the election rights group Common Cause Ohio contend it’s a blow to democracy.
“All of us have the right to vote but that doesn’t mean that we have the right for that vote to count,” she said. “We need to be proactive as voters. We need to confirm that we’re registered to vote because decisions like this can have really unintended consequences.”
“Today’s decision is a victory for election integrity, and a defeat for those who use the federal court system to make election law across the country. This decision is validation of Ohio’s efforts to clean up the voter rolls and now with the blessing nation’s highest court, it can serve as a model for other states to use.” –Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted
At issue is when a state begins the process of notifying and ultimately removing people from the rolls of registered voters after a period of non-voting. In most states with similar laws, that process begins after voters miss two or more elections but in Ohio, it starts if voters sit out just one election.
If someone in Ohio fails to vote in a federal election, the state sends an address-confirmation notice. Removal is triggered if the voter fails to respond and does not vote for another four years.
“Ohio simply treats the failure to return a notice and the failure to vote as evidence that a registrant has moved, not as a ground for removal. And in doing this, Ohio simply follows federal law.” –U.S. Supreme Court in Husted v. A. Phillip Randolph Institute
Sometimes even voting is not quite voting, Turcer said. She says voters should check the paper printout in the voting booth before they leave the polling place.
“If, in fact, you are voting on a touch-screen machine, make sure that you’re actually also verifying that the paper actually matches your vote. You can find that a little bit lower than where you’re voting,” she said.
Turcer’s advice for Ohioans is to confirm their registration at myohiovote.com
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said it has no authority to determine if the process is an ideal method of maintaining voter rolls, but only to decide if it violates federal law.
It triggered angry responses from Democrats, like U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus), who say the purging is most harmful to people who find it difficult to vote, people who are also likely to vote for Democratic candidates.
“I fear that the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the State of Ohio to continue its aggressive voter purge will make it much harder for Ohioans to vote, especially communities of color, veterans and vulnerable populations, and may prevent many more Americans from freely exercising their constitutional right to vote if other states follow suit,” she said in a statement released Monday.
Few states appear eager to follow Ohio’s lead in taking a more aggressive approach to eliminating voters who haven’t cast ballots in a while.