Rep. Robinson concerned with Ohio voter list purges

State Rep. Phil Robinson (D-Solon) today issued the following statement in response to the latest developments in the Ohio voter purge that took place on Sep. 6, 2019:

“I was pleased that my Democratic colleagues and I were able to prevent many of my constituents and thousands of other voters across Ohio from being made ineligible to vote. However, I’m still worried the current process is unfairly purging voters from the rolls,” said Rep. Robinson. “Most of the voters affected by the recent purge are those who have not voted since 2012, based on the assumption those voters have moved. With a system tantamount to simply guessing, there will inevitably be voters unfairly removed from the rolls if they don’t respond or miss mail reminders from their county Board of Elections. You should not be kept from voting simply because you choose to vote when you want, and not when the state thinks you should.”

Ohio House Democrats sent a letter on Aug. 19 pointing out that thousands of voters who were slated for removal in just four counties moved within Ohio and were still eligible to vote. Last Friday, Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a new directive with last-minute instructions to Boards of Elections not to remove voters who moved within their county, among other new safeguards won by voter rights advocates.

With the recent changes, the current list of voters purged from the rolls on Sep. 6 includes over 2,500 voters from House district 6 and over 32,500 voters total from Cuyahoga County who will be ineligible to vote until they re-register.

“Voting is the bedrock of democracy, and haphazard methods such as these will continue to erode people’s trust in the process,” added Rep. Robinson. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in both parties and Sec. LaRose to improve the process of keeping the voter rolls up to date while safeguarding voter rights.”