By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
A citizen’s request to have 16,924 voter names investigated and possibly purged from the voter rolls was rejected Friday morning by the Wood County Board of Elections.
The board members – John Cuckler, Andy Newlove, Doug Ruck and Zach Schmidt – shut down the effort by Taina Romstadt to challenge the voting rights of nearly 19% of Wood County’s registered voters with the election less than a month away.
Romstadt, of Lake Township, protested that “free and fair elections” can only be guaranteed when suspicious voter registrations are investigated. But the elections board stood by citizens’ sacred right to vote, and reinforced that the office is following all state and federal rules for removing voters from the rolls.
“We’re talking about an individual’s fundamental right to vote – and we don’t take it away,” said Linda Holmes, with the county prosecutor’s office and counsel for the board of elections.
Conservative groups across the country have been systematically challenging the legitimacy of large numbers of voter registrations this year, according to reports from Associated Press. Throughout Ohio counties, people have been challenging double digits of voters – none as many as Romstadt.
The National Voter Registration Act prohibits the systematic removal of names from voter rolls 90 days before a federal election.
Romstadt denied that her petition was seeking to “systematically” drop voters from the rolls.
But James Hoppenjans, also with the county prosecutor’s office, said the Department of Justice last month issued rules for such mass purging efforts.
“They have exactly addressed what you are doing – this type of mass challenge,” Hoppenjans said.
Romstadt created several categories for her challenges, including two deceased people who have been removed from the rolls. That left 16,922 other challenges for people who allegedly had not voted in the last six years, some names that may be duplicates, and some that may contain unknown errors that “looked suspicious.” She also made home visits to some addresses, and allegedly found the registered voters to no longer be living there.
During Friday’s hearing, it was announced that several local elected officials were among the voters being challenged.
Wood County Commissioner Ted Bowlus, whose name appears on one of Romstadt’s lists, was given a chance to speak at the hearing.
“Last night I was notified my name was in the paper” for having his voter status questioned, Bowlus said. “That was a shock.”
Bowlus said he has lived at the same address for 25 years and takes voting seriously.
“I’m very conscientious about voting,” he said. “To be accused of not being a registered voter … I’m very concerned about this list.”
Bowlus added that in order to run for office, the candidate must be a registered voter.
“You can’t be an elected official without being an elector,” he said.
After the hearing, board of elections director Julie Baumgardner said staff looked into Bowlus’ voter registration status and found no reason it would appear on one of Romstadt’s lists.
Others on the lists submitted by Romstadt included another county commissioner, at least two other county elected officials, two municipal court judges, the probate judge, a member of the board of elections, plus Holmes and possibly the court security guard in the hearing room.
“I apologize some of the people in the room are on that list,” Romstadt said, adding that the issues she unearthed need to be investigated. “Those voters are always able to vote provisionally.”
This wasn’t Romstadt’s first effort to get voters removed from the rolls in Wood County, due to her concerns about voter integrity. She previously approached the board of elections in June with a challenge to 103 names on the voter rolls. In August, she was back asking that 112 names be removed.
In those earlier instances, the board also declined to remove the names, and explained that all the names presented were already going through the voter purge process, which is spelled out by state statute. The board also said there was no indication that any of the people she questioned have voted or attempted to vote in Wood County recently.
Doug Ruck, acting as the hearing administrator, explained the elections board follows the required procedure for taking voters off the rolls.
“We don’t remove people except if we’re sure,” he said. And the evidence presented by Romstadt fell short of proof, he said.
“I did provide evidence previously. It was ignored by the board,” she said of her previous filings that were rejected by the board.
Ruck also pointed out the difficulties Romstadt’s request to investigate 16,924 voters would pose with the election less than one month away. All of those people would have to be given due process and be given the opportunity to challenge the petition.
Romstadt said it is the board’s obligation to investigate voter challenges, and until that is done, those people should vote by provisional ballots so it can be determined if their votes should be counted.
Ruck assured that the elections office already works to keep clean voter registration rolls.
“That benefits the voters and that benefits our office,” he said.
And the process for citizens to request the purging of invalid voters is intended for specific cases – not 19% of the electorate.
Wood County Board of Elections Director Terry Burton explained the office sends daily packets about registration changes to the Ohio Secretary of State Office that builds a database with that information from counties.
In July, Wood County’s roll of registered voters dropped 4,919 names, using the federally mandated process. People 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 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.
Those being dropped from the voter lists also had not answered requests to respond to confirmation cards from the county board of elections. And they failed to respond to “last chance” mailings from the board.
Bill Stephenson, counsel working with Romstadt, said Friday’s hearing should really be more of a probable cause hearing than require her to carry the burden of proof. The board of elections office should take it from here, he said.
“She has dug up as much as any citizen can do,” Stephenson said.
But counsel for the board of elections disagreed. Holmes said the Ohio Supreme Court has stated that taking away someone’s right to vote requires high standards similar to criminal cases.
Hoppenjans said courts have ruled that a citizen has the burden of proof when challenging another citizen’s voting rights – to which Stephenson replied, “courts say things all the time.”
