By Leigh Chapman, Senior Policy Advisor at Let America Vote

Overview

One way to make it harder for people to vote is to remove them from the voter rolls altogether — and this happens much more often than you might think. These so-called “purges” of the voter rolls are often done in the name of “keeping them up to date,” but in fact can be ordered by elected officials to kick certain voters off the rolls. This activity is supposed to be carefully regulated by the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and laws in individual states. At the state level, however, elections officials across the country have acted to “update” their voter rolls and remove hundreds of thousands of eligible voters. Without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act — which was gutted by the infamous Shelby County v. Holder decision — legal advocacy organizations like the ACLU and Demos are forced to file lawsuits on behalf of those affected. However, all too often, the damage is already done, and elections take place before the courts can restore the registration of those who have been unlawfully purged.

Why it matters

Purging the voter rolls is one of the most powerful tactics for anyone who wants to suppress the vote. It is dangerous precisely because it is easy to justify to the public in the name of “keeping our voter rolls up to date.” Everyone agrees that proper maintenance of voter lists is important, but it has to be done carefully.

Protecting the integrity of the vote starts with the voter rolls. Voters who are eligible to register and vote are entitled to stay on the rolls and should only be removed under procedures outlined under federal and state law. It is especially problematic when state laws go beyond what federal law allows.

If the voter rolls have been illegally purged ahead of time, the outcome can be heavily biased before the first vote is cast. It is absolutely imperative that our country have a modern, secure, and non-partisan system used to keep our voter rolls safe and up-to-date. And whenever elections officials are unlawfully altering the voter rolls, they must be held accountable, both politically and legally.

Let America Vote’s Position

Let America Vote believes that the integrity of our elections is the foundation of our democratic process. We strongly oppose any and all illegal attempts by elections officials to put their thumbs on the scale by purging voter rolls.

Justice, common sense, and everyday decency demand that we affirm the inherent worth and dignity of all American citizens and their right to participate in the democratic process.

Background

Access to the ballot has rarely been easy in the history of the United States, and we are still a long way off from having full citizen participation in our elections. For non-white citizens, registering to vote was often impeded by poll taxes, literacy tests and threats of violence. Today, registering to vote is still a challenge for many voters for myriad reasons — which makes it all the more dismaying when people are removed from the voter rolls after they’ve managed to register.

The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA — also known as the “Motor Voter” act) was passed in 1993 in response to growing recognition among voting rights advocates that federal standards were needed to guarantee access to the ballot. And then, after the 2000 U.S. presidential election debacle, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to modernize voting machines and voter registration.

Maintaining voter rolls

The Brennan Center for Justice is one of our country’s leading, independent voices on the integrity of our electoral process. In a towering 2008 report, the Brennan Center describes how important it is to maintain the voter rolls in a way that ensures they are “dependable, accurate, and up-to-date,” and that it’s important to “remove duplicate names, and people who have moved, died, or are otherwise ineligible.” The challenge, is that these maintenance activities are not always undertaken with the care they require. The NVRA requires that any state’s removal of voters from the rolls be “uniform, non-discriminatory, and in compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” but state activities are often irregular, sliding into the realm of “purging” the rolls.[i]

NVRA requirements

Section 8 of NVRA allows states to remove voters from the rolls only for the following reasons:

● the voter requests it,

● a criminal conviction or mental incapacity (as provided by state law),

● the voter’s death, or

● change in the voter’s residence.[ii]

Further, Section 8 specifically prohibits states from removing a registrant from the rolls “by reason of [their] failure to vote.”[iii]

Unfortunately, despite the establishment of new federal standards that made it more convenient for people who had historically been disenfranchised to register and vote, many states have lapsed in their compliance with NVRA and HAVA. And, even worse, advocates argue that some states deliberately ignore those rules.

Ohio is one of those states.

Ohio’s “supplemental process” for voter purges

In 1994, after the passage of the National Voter Registration Act, Ohio updated its elections law to add what is known as a “supplemental process” to its voter purging practice. Periodically, the Ohio Secretary of State will assemble lists of registered voters who have not engaged in “voter activity” over the past two years. The Secretary of State’s office then sends a form to those voters requiring them to respond — and if the voter does not respond and continues to not engage in “voter activity,” the office strikes that person from the rolls.[iv] Simply put, voters may be purged from the rolls after six years just because they didn’t vote — even if they are otherwise eligible to vote.[v] Advocates argue this would have a disproportionate impact on people who voted only irregularly, but were otherwise eligible.