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Ohio Sets New Rules for Removing Inactive Voters

Generic photo of people voting
MARYLAND GOV PICS
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Husted says no voters can be removed before this year's election, but voters can be notified if they might be removed.

Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Ohio’s disputed six-year voter roll maintenance process is constitutional, no voters will be removed from the rolls till after the November election. There’s now a plan on how to go forward with voter removal after that.

Federal law says no voter registrations can be removed this close to an election, but Secretary of State Jon Husted says boards of elections can start notifying those in the queue to be removed.

Those are people who didn’t vote for two years, then over the next four years didn’t respond to a mailing from the board and also didn’t vote. Those notices must be mailed by August 6.

He’s also putting in a new feature on the state’s MyOhioVote.com site to inform voters of their registration status. And Husted’s office says it will mail a voter a “last chance” notice 30 to 45 days before their name is removed.  And when drivers renew their licenses with the same address as on file with their voter registrations, that will count as confirmation.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.