Ohioans who do not vote in three consecutive federal elections automatically have their registrations cancelled. In 2015, that meant that roughly 40,000 people living in Ohios largest county largely low-income and minority voters were disenfranchised. Over the last five years, roughly two million people have been removed from the rolls.
Demos and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, alleging that the massive purge of Ohios voter rolls is illegal and violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), know as the motor voter law. Under that law, states can only remove voters from the rolls if they request the removal, die, or move out of state, and the list maintenance program must be nondiscriminatory.
The most recent massive purge, conducted in 2015, removed 40,000 voters in Cuyahoga County. Those voters either failed to vote in three consecutive federal elections or in the intervening local elections, a practice which Ohio calls the Supplemental Process.
