After yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling that Ohio’s law for removing inactive voters from the rolls is legal, Democrat candidate for Secretary of State Kathleen Clyde stated that she would not enforce the law if elected.
Clyde’s declaration that she would unilaterally halt Ohio’s process of maintaining clean voter rolls should send up red flags for voters. Not only would Clyde purposefully fail to uphold her oath of office if elected, she also would reverse more than 20 years of precedent set by both Republican and Democrat Secretaries of State.
As reported by Cleveland.com, here is the process designated by Ohio law, that the Secretary of State follows to remove inactive voters from the rolls:
- The state checks voter rolls against several databases, including the U.S. Postal Service’s national change of address database and state death records, to remove voters who have moved out of state or died.
- An individual who doesn’t vote for two years is mailed a notice asking to confirm their registration. If the voter doesn’t respond to the notice, update his address or registration information or perform an election activity, such as voting or signing a state ballot measure petition within four years, the voter’s registration is canceled.
Sound reasonable? The Supreme Court says yes. As Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion:
“The notice in question here warns recipients that unless they take the simple and easy step of mailing back the preaddressed, postage prepaid card — or take the equally easy step of updating their information online—their names may be removed from the voting rolls if they do not vote during the next four years.”
“It was Congress’s judgment that a reasonable person with an interest in voting is not likely to ignore notice of this sort.”
Frank LaRose, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State, understands the importance of maintaining clean voter rolls as well:
“Today’s Supreme Court decision will allow the Secretary of State to continue carrying out his constitutional responsibility, in accordance with Ohio law, to maintain accurate voter rolls,” LaRose said. “By working with the bipartisan county boards of election we can balance the responsibility to maintain accurate voter rolls while still being fair to all voters.”
This November, Ohio voters have a choice between a candidate who has promised not to uphold their oath of office, and a candidate who will. The choice is clear; Frank LaRose is the right person to lead the Secretary of State’s office and ensure the integrity of Ohio’s elections.