Ohio cleaning voter rolls of inactive registrations, including in Lorain County

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has ordered all 88 county boards of elections to start removing inactive registrations belonging to individuals who recently registered and voted in another state. That includes 265 such voters in Lorain County, Elections Director Paul Adams said Wednesday. The Secretary of State's Office, which oversees voting in Ohio, has a number of multistate data sharing agreements, LaRose said in a news release. Going over its data, it identified nearly 12,000 registrations belonging to individuals who registered and voted in another state in the 2024 general election, "effectively rendering them ineligible to vote in Ohio," his office said. "We have 265 on our list," Adams said. "We are reviewing them now and will process as required in the directive. None appear to have voted twice and 228 are already in confirmation status." Confirmation status "means they have entered the regular record maintenance program to potentially be deleted if there is no future voter activity," Adams said. The easiest way to remain an active voter is to vote in an election, sign a petition for a candidate or issue, or update or confirm your voter registration with the Board of Elections. All of those actions are considered "voting activity" or "voter activity." LaRose has issued a directive to local election officials to send those voters a cancelation notice before they are formally removed from Ohio's voter registration database. Anyone who believes their registration was flagged in error can appeal to the board of elections in the county where they live. Adams said no one in Lorain County will be immediately removed from the voting rolls "unless they reply and ask to be canceled or do not reply within the period allowed in the directive." The Lorain County Board of Elections can be contacted by phone at (440) 326-5900. You can also update or confirm your voter registration online at www.voteloraincountyohio.gov. The next chance to vote in Lorain County is Nov. 4. Voter fraud is exceedingly rare, according to the Secretary of State's Office, and Ohio has "one of the most-comprehensive voter list integrity programs in the nation," it said in Wednesday's news release. The directive ordering the removal of relocated and inactive registrations is part of a continuing audit process. The state frequently audits the voter rolls to remove dead people, noncitizens, inactive and abandoned registrations, according to LaRose's office. "We have a duty under Ohio law to maintain accurate voter rolls," LaRose said in the news release. "This is a commonsense safeguard that's basically designed to prevent double voting. The law says if you've changed your registration to another state and then voted in that state's election, you're no longer eligible to be registered to vote in Ohio." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com