From today’s Ohio Capital Journal:
A pair of voting rights groups are suing Ohio’s secretary of state over a controversial piece of voting legislation signed into law late last year.
The League of Women Voters and Council on American-Islamic Relations are asking the court to block portions of the law from taking effect. The ACLU and Campaign Legal Center are representing them in court.
Ohio Senate Bill 293’s most notable change was the elimination of a four-day grace period for absentee ballots. But the measure also directs the secretary of state to comb through the voter registration database monthly to remove suspected noncitizens on the rolls.
What could be wrong with that? The voting rights groups contend Ohio’s law relies on shaky data to remove voters when federal law doesn’t allow it — and without providing notice to the voters facing removal.
“Senate Bill 293’s requirement that there be systematic voter purges is discriminatory and unlawful and it threatens to disenfranchise perfectly eligible voters,” ACLU of Ohio Chief Legal Officer Freda Levenson said in a press release.
“Using manifestly unreliable data to cull our voter rolls doesn’t protect the integrity of our elections — it harms it.”
Ohio Capital Journal reached out to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for comment about the case. His office did not respond.
Read the complete story here.