The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld Ohio’s method of purging voters from its rolls, considered the toughest in the nation.

Arizona also kicks voters off the rolls but in a way that hasn't stirred much in the way of controversy since it was enacted. The high court ruling seemed to center around one of the triggers Ohio used to start the process — a voter not casting a ballot.

Arizona uses a different method.

“We really operate in a different place than they do in Ohio,” said Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes.

Who is purged from AZ's registration rolls, and why?

Under state statute, the process starts when a county elections office sends a piece of mail — an early ballot or voter guide — to a voter and it is returned to the election's office by the U.S. Postal Service.

The office then sends a follow-up piece of mail asking the voter to update their address. That follow-up, under state law, is sent to either the address on file or the forwarding address provided by the U.S. Post Office.

If there is no response after 35 days, the voter is moved to a list of “inactive” voters. The person still is registered to vote, Fontes said, but no longer receives mail from the county elections office.

If a person votes or signs a petition while on the “inactive” list, Fontes said, their information is updated and they are placed back on the active list.

If a person remains inactive after two general elections, the county, under state law, can remove them from the rolls.

Arizona’s method of culling inactive voters was passed by the Legislature in 1991.

What did Ohio do?

The Ohio system scrutinized by the Supreme Court started the removal process when someone didn’t vote in any election for two years.

After that, as described in the court's ruling, the state would send out a mailer asking the person to verify their address. If there was no answer, and the person didn’t vote for the next four years, the state allowed their removal.

Some of the legal discussion was over whether Ohio’s rules violated federal election law. In 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act. That law said states could not kick voters off the rolls because of a “failure to vote.”

The majority of the justices ruled that although Ohio’s process started when someone didn’t vote, it did not violate the law because it was not the sole method under which someone was removed from the rolls. Four of the justices disagreed.

Did Arizona used to be tougher?

Arizona once had a law that allowed someone to be dumped for the rolls if they failed to vote in one general election.

Voters, through an initiative passed in November 1982, added a provision that said a person could stay on the rolls so long as they carried a valid Arizona driver’s license.

County elections officials didn’t like that rule, saying it forced them to keep many voters on the rolls who had moved out of the county, but remained in Arizona.

Efforts to purge more voters failed to pass for years. The current method that passed in 1991 also allowed people to register to vote by mail.

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