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Ohio's process for removing voters from rolls is illegal, court rules (Add dead voters back on list)

Columbus Dispatch ^ | Sept 24 2016 | Alan Johnson

Posted on by Whenifhow

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday in a case involving removal of names from voter registration rolls.

The case was based on a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and other entities arguing that Husted was too aggressive in purging voter rolls. Husted's office has removed 465,000 deceased voters and 1.3 million duplicate registrations from Ohio's voter rolls in recent years. His office also has a program to cancel the registrations of those who do not update their registrations or vote over six years, including three federal general elections. Those voters also are sent a confirmation notice.

The 2-1 decision by the Cincinnati-based appeals court overturned a decision by a federal district court earlier this year. The case now will go back to the U.S. District Court for reconsideration.

"The secretarys newly issued form does nothing to correct the fact that Ohio has, for years, been removing voters from the rolls because they failed to respond to forms that are blatantly non-compliant," the court said.

"This ruling overturns 20 years of Ohio law and practice, which has been carried out by the last four secretaries of state, both Democrat and Republican. It also reverses a federal court settlement from just two years ago that required exactly the opposite action," Husted said in a statement.

The ruling "undermines voter confidence and opens the door to fraud," he added.

He said the state will appeal the decision if the district court reconsiders.



(Excerpt) Read more at dispatch.com ...

TOPICS:

Constitution/Conservatism

Government

News/Current Events

Politics/Elections

KEYWORDS:

deadvoters

election2016

ohio

voterfraud

People can register or re-register by printing out a voter registration form online  MyVoteOhio.com  or by obtaining one from a public library and mailing to a local board of elections or Husted's office before Oct. 11. Voters can check their registration status online. http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/Voters.aspx?http://www.myohiovote.com/ Two of the three judges  Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, and Judge Eric Clay, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, voted against Husted. The dissenting vote came from Judge Eugene E. Siler Jr., an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, a Republican.



To: LucyT; ADemocratNoMore; Akron Al; arbee4bush; agrace; ATOMIC_PUNK; LS; Badeye; Bikers4Bush; ...

Ohio PING!! Husted was too aggressive in purging voter rolls. Husted’s office has removed 465,000 deceased voters and 1.3 million duplicate registrations from Ohio’s voter rolls in recent years. [ ] “This ruling overturns 20 years of Ohio law and practice, which has been carried out by the last four secretaries of state, both Democrat and Republican. It also reverses a federal court settlement from just two years ago that required exactly the opposite action,” Husted said in a statement. Let me know if you want on or off the list.



To: Whenifhow

An appointee of George W. Bush? He certainly continues to leave his footprints, doesn’t he??



To: Whenifhow

It sounds like the activist “judges” on the Feral courts are starting to panic as their princess’ chance of winning the election starts to dwindle and fade. I guess you can’t blame them, they could be replaced by real judges if Trump wins.



by 4 posted onby FlingWingFlyer (Proud to be a deplorable American. Go Trump!)

To: Whenifhow

It sounds like they only questioned the part about re-registration and not the removal of deceased voters. The 6th circuit has always been fair reasonable. I doubt they’d object to removing deceased voters from voting lists.



by 5 posted onby xzins ( Free Republic Gives YOU a voice heard around the globe. Support the Freepathon!)

To: Whenifhow

“His office also has a program to cancel the registrations of those who do not update their registrations or vote over six years, including three federal general elections. Those voters also are sent a confirmation notice.” All of that is very reasonable.



To: All

.From another article at the Toledo Blade - it is unclear how many will be restored as a result of this decision. http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2016/09/24/Court-rules-against-Ohio-voter-purge.html also at WaPo - DOJ got involved in July Federal appeals court rules against Ohio voter-roll purges

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-appeals-court-rules-against-ohio-voter-roll-purges/2016/09/23/67c1311e-81b4-11e6-a52d-9a865a0ed0d4_story.html In a statement, Husted said the courts decision will effectively force us to put voters back on the voter rolls who have died or long since moved to another address. He said that if the final resolution requires us to reinstate voting eligibility to individuals who have died or moved out of Ohio, we will appeal. [ ] The current policy of mandating that inactive voters effectively prove that they still belong on the voter rolls appears to be aiding Republicans in Ohios largest metropolitan areas, according to a recent Reuters study. The study found that in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, voters have been taken off the rolls in ­Democratic-leaning areas at about twice the rate as in GOP-heavy areas. [ ] In July, the Justice Department joined the court fight when it and the groups appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit after the district court upheld Husteds decision.



To: Whenifhow

Even if they are dead???



To: Whenifhow

I want to stay on the Ohio list. I absolutely want deceased voters purged from the voter lists.



by 9 posted onby xzins ( Free Republic Gives YOU a voice heard around the globe. Support the Freepathon!)

To: Whenifhow

I want to stay on the Ohio list. I absolutely want deceased voters purged from the voter lists.



by 10 posted onby xzins ( Free Republic Gives YOU a voice heard around the globe. Support the Freepathon!)

To: Whenifhow

When I lived in Louisiana, the parish registrar of voters periodically sent out a postcard that said, “This card is to confirm your address in order to validate our voter records. If you do NOT receive this notice, please contact our office immediately.”



by 11 posted onby mumblypeg (Make America Sane Again)

To: RaginRak

Even if they are dead???

*** That info is not clear, although the Toledo Blade article (see post 7) just says it is unknown, the presumption is that they are referring to voters that were not dead, just inactive.



To: Whenifhow

If the voter registrations purged were indeed deceased individuals or duplicate registrations, I don’t see how anyone could claim it was too aggressive.



To: Whenifhow

(Add dead voters back on list) Well if any of the dead ones vote then you've got 'em cold.



To: Whenifhow

The Secretary of state should issue provisional ballots to all identified as ineligible. That complies with the ruling, and you can sort out the fraud later before certification. 5.56mm



To: mumblypeg

Fragment of a Greek Tragedy: That reminds me of a line from A. E. Housman's "If you happen to be deaf and dumb, and do not understand a word I say, then wave your hand, to signify as much."



To: laconic

GHWB’s judge is the one who got it right. Husted’s methods were pretty standard everywhere (except maybe he had enlisted more sophisticated database sorting software). This is nothing more than judicial legislation.



by 17 posted onby Migraine (Diversity is great -- until it happens to YOU.)

To: Migraine

Mr. Trump: Demand a recount BEFORE the election. Promise to charge violators to the full extent of the law. That will at least scare some of them.



by 18 posted onby DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)

To: laconic

“Droppings” is more like it.



by 19 posted onby carriage_hill ( Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading.)

To: Whenifhow

Hey, IT’S THE CHICAGO WAY!!



by 20 posted onby Dick Bachert (THE 4TH ESTATE HERE HAS BECOME A 5TH COLUMN. DIDN'T WE IMPRISON TOKYO ROSE???)

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