By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIIN
BG Independent News
Approximately 1,800 names are set to be purged from Wood County’s voter pollbooks.
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 voted, have not changed their addresses with the board of elections, and have not signed petitions.
Those being dropped from the voter lists not only did not vote in the past four years, but they also ignored requests to respond to confirmation cards from the county board of elections. And they failed to respond to “last chance” mailings from the board.
“This has been another level of trying to communicate with these people,” Burton said.
Burton understands that voter purges are volatile issues.
“Statewide there’s a question about the validity of the list of people to be purged,” he said.
And he understands that when people change addresses, that removing their names from former voter lists isn’t top on their “to do” lists. In Wood County, many of the “last chance” mailers are being returned to the board of elections by the postal service.
“We’re getting some of these back, and a lot returned as ‘undeliverable,’” said Dale David, of the board of elections staff.
“I get when people move, that this is not a high priority on their lists,” Burton said.
Burton understands 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.
The last time Wood County did any purging of voter names was in 2015. That year more than 3,400 registered voters in Wood County were purged from the voting rolls following a directive from the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.
However, 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.
But since those names had already been purged, the ruling meant if a person showed up at the polls and was not on the official list, they would be allowed to vote by a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot is a paper ballot that is held in a sealed envelope with the voter’s identification. If the identification information was verified by the elections board staff, the provisional ballot was counted.
Wood County Board of Elections did not encounter any citizens purged from the list, who wished to vote, Burton said at that time.
And since then, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that Ohio’s voter purging process is acceptable.
But there is also the issue of 1,461 people being incorrectly removed from pollbooks in the last statewide purge. Those citizens had voted in the past six years or otherwise were still valid voters. That error was blamed on a software vendor’s error.
Last week, the Associated Press reported that a settlement in a 2016 lawsuit will allow eligible voters purged from Ohio’s voter rolls for inactivity between 2011 and 2019 to cast a provisional ballot in elections through 2022.
A statement from the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said the settlement prevents disenfranchisement of eligible voters and guarantees that qualified voters will have additional opportunities to register.
The settlement reportedly doesn’t affect Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s plans to conduct more purges this fall.
