By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As of today, Wood County’s roll of registered voters dropped by 4,919 names.
The annual voter purge is a federally mandated process to remove names of voters who either have moved out of a jurisdiction without notice or have not participated in any voter activity over a four-year period.
Throughout the state, nearly 160,000 inactive voter registrations were removed today from Ohio’s voter rolls ahead of this year’s presidential election.
State and federal law requires election officials to maintain accurate voter rolls.
Local people being removed from voter lists are those who have had no contact with the Wood County Board of Elections for the last two federal election cycles, which occur on even numbered years.
So for four years, the people being purged from the list have not initiated any voting activity, and have not changed their addresses with the board of elections.
Voter-initiated activity includes voting, submitting a valid absentee ballot application, registering to vote, updating or confirming an address with a board of elections or the BMV, or signing a candidate or issue petition that is verified by a board of elections.
“If we see any voter activity from them, they are taken off the list to be removed,” said Terry Burton, director of the Wood County Board of Elections. After today’s purge, the county has 88,661 registered voters.
Those being dropped from the voter lists have also not answered requests to respond to confirmation cards from the county board of elections. And they have failed to respond to “last chance” mailings from the board.
“Folks that are taken off have been sent multiple notices, asking ‘are you still interested in voting,’” Burton said.
“I appreciate there are certain people who feel people aren’t getting these notices,” Burton said. But he assured that voters who respond to the notices have their names taken off the purging list.
Each year, many of the mailed notices are returned to the Wood County Board of Elections as being undeliverable.
Burton understands that when people change addresses, removing their names from former voter lists isn’t top on their “to do” lists.
“When people move, their first thought is not ‘let’s call the board of elections and get that changed,’” he said.
Burton also recognizes that voter purges can be volatile issues. He acknowledges the opposing political ideologies of keeping everyone on the voter list. However, he also knows that there are less chances for errors or fraud if invalid names are taken off the pollbooks.
In 2016 a federal appeals court found that Ohio’s process for maintaining its voter rolls violated federal law. A judge ruled that Ohio voters who were improperly removed from registration lists could cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election.
Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that the voter purging process is acceptable.
Burton acknowledged that the number of Wood County voters being removed from the rolls is larger this year, but explained that across the state names are being dropped that should have been removed years ago.
“We have been reminding the Secretary of State office that there were some older records that should have been cleared out,” he said.
The only recourse for voters knocked from the rolls is to re-register to vote. The deadline to register for the Nov. 5 election is Oct. 7.
