The ACLU of Ohio has issued an alert to voters after a court ruling over the illegal purging of voter registrations by Secretary of State Jon Husted. The alert is to notify voters that if they have been purged from voting rolls it is their right to cast a provisional ballot. If you do not appear in the poll books come Election Day, all you have to do is politely and firmly insist on completing a provisional ballot.
If you were purged from the voter registration because of inactivity, you are still eligible to vote in the 2016 Election. Purged voters are also still able to cast their vote early, so long as they go in person to cast a provisional ballot.
Make sure you have identification with you when you arrive to your polling place, to ensure that the Board of Elections has the information they need to make sure your vote gets counted. Even provisional ballots count in elections, so it’s important to make sure you know the status of your voter registration.
How do you know if you’ve been illegally purged? By going to www.MyOhioVote.com, you are able to check the status of your voter registration. The information was made available to notify voters if they have been illegally purged from the voter registration by court order.
The illegal purging of voters does not include those who have moved outside of their previous county since the last time they voted. After moving counties, it is the responsibility of the voter to make sure they are registered to vote within the new county that they are living in. Otherwise, if you moved within the county since the last election, you are still able to cast a provisional ballot that will be counted for in the Election.
It is your right to be able to cast a provisional ballot. Therefore, the ACLU has encouraged voters who feel that their rights have been violated, to record the names of any election officials and any information that they provided you from the polling place you attempted to vote at. This information and additional information is available at www.acluohio.org/vote.
Lindsey Huff
Intern