The Hill
(May 30, 2017) The Supreme Court will hear a case next term challenging Ohio’s policy of removing inactive voters from the registration rolls.
The justices agreed Tuesday to take the case, known as Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute.
The A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization for African-American trade unionists, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and Ohio resident Larry Harmon claim the state is violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002 by removing the names of registered voters from Ohio’s voter rolls.
The voters’ names are removed through the state’s so-called “Supplemental Process.” Under the process, if a voter does not vote during a two-year period — a single election cycle — that triggers a change-of-address confirmation. The voter is removed from the list unless they take an action to confirm their status in a subsequent four-year period.
Under the process, “voter activity” includes filing a change of address with a designated state agency, filing a voter registration card with the Board of Elections, casting an absentee ballot, casting a provisional ballot, or voting on election day.
The district court denied the plaintiff’s request for an injunction requiring Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) to either reinstate otherwise eligible voters who were improperly removed from the rolls under the Supplemental Process, or to count provisional ballots cast by such persons.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision and remanded the case for further proceedings.
