Democrats are saying thousands of voters could be affected by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding the way Ohio deletes inactive registrations. But the secretary of state, who’s also the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, says the law prevents voters from being removed before the fall election.
Ohio can continue its two-step process of sending mailings after two years of voter inactivity and after four years, removal of registrations from those who don’t respond to mailings and also don’t vote. Democratic Secretary of State candidate Rep. Kathleen Clyde says she’d put an end to that, but Husted says the office is required by law to run the process.
“A future secretary of state could change some things within that realm. But I fully expect that with this ruling that the Legislature will codify this,” he said.
Opponents say Husted has been more aggressive than other secretaries of state in what they call purging voters, but Husted says his office has also created online change of address and other ways to reach voters.
