Ohio purging voter rolls

[Hawaii Hiker]

Will one day ever go by where Republicans don't try to either suppress the vote or purge voter rolls....

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-votingrights-ohio-insight-idUSKCN0YO19D

[Botany]

1. We have more Ds then Rs in Ohio but things like this, gerrymandering, and "magic

voting machines" keep the Rs in power. Along w/the fact that the ODP is useless
and I swear it is working for the GOP @ times.

[csziggy]

2. I torn about this - the purged voters were not voting

From the link you provided:

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, says canceling registrations for voters who missed three straight federal elections helps keep voting rolls current. Since 2011, the state has cleared out more than 2 million records of people who have moved or died, he said.

Those who don't vote over a six-year stretch or respond to a postcard mailed to their address have only themselves to blame, he said. "If this is really important thing to you in your life, voting, you probably would have done so within a six-year period," he said in an interview.

People who don't respond to the postcard can be removed from voting lists if they sit out the next two federal elections. Many other states only remove voters from the rolls if they have died or moved to a new address.

I can understand removing people who have not voted for long periods and who do not respond to a contact attempt - but I don't believe that purges should be done just before a presidential election or just before any election.

Clean up the voting rolls AFTER certain elections. Send a card after the election telling people since they haven't voted they will be removed from the rolls. Then once they are removed from the list of active voters, send another card telling them that. This would give people a chance to get re-registered well before the next election.

Better yet automatically register everyone who is eligible and forced people to opt out of their most important right as a citizen.

Even better, make voting compulsory as is done in Australia:

Voting is Compulsory

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, under section 245(1), states: "It shall be the duty of every elector to vote at each election".

Under the Electoral Act, the actual duty of the elector is to attend a polling place, have their name marked off the certified list, receive a ballot paper and take it to an individual voting booth, mark it, fold the ballot paper and place it in the ballot box.

<SNIP>

As voting is compulsory, electors are given a number of ways to cast their vote at an election, including postal voting, pre-poll voting, absent voting, voting at Australian overseas missions and voting at mobile teams at hospitals and nursing homes and in remote localities, as well as ordinary voting at a polling place in their electorate.

Because of the secrecy of the ballot, it is not possible to determine whether a person has completed their ballot paper prior to placing it in the ballot box. It is therefore not possible to determine whether all electors have met their legislated duty to vote. It is, however, possible to determine that an elector has attended a polling place or mobile polling team (or applied for a postal vote, pre-poll vote or absent vote) and been issued with a ballot paper.
More: http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/voting/index.htm

At the link are lists of other countries where voting is compulsory.

Considering the low voter turn out in this country, it would be a wonderful fund raiser!

[Liberal In Red State]

10. I can't understand it . . . nothing requires a voter to vote in any election . . . the right to vote

Is not invalidated for lack of use. I had a 92 old Grandmother who hadn't voted in years . . . decide that "them bums" need to be ousted . . . so much so it propelled her to the voting booth and it had been maybe 25 years since she last voted. The right to vote should be protected at all cost . . . allowed to be stripped away for lack of use opens the door to a myriad of reasons to strip the vote from others.

[aggiesal]

14. I completely agree ...

Voting rolls should never be purged.
In fact the only way someone should get removed from the voter rolls
is when the voter specifically asks to be removed.
That should be the only way.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

18. So people who die or move

Should stay on the voter rolls forever?

If/when they come up with a way accurately to cross-check death records and voter rolls in other states, then this type of purging can stop. But until that time, it's not practical to keep everyone on the voter rolls forever.

[aggiesal]

21. Yes! Death records are filed with ...

the government, so there should be a process where the ROV receives these notices.
Addresses, SSN, ... are all recorded, so you know exactly which person it is.

Also, when you move and re-register, there should be a process where the new ROV
sends a notice to the old ROV that the voter has registered in a new location.
If you move within the same ROV jurisdiction, then the ROV, since it didn't
change, has automatic notification.

These systems are already in place.

So, my premise still stands.

BTW, banks keep accounts open long after the owner dies. This happens all the time.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

22. I agree that the systems are in place

but until steps are actually taken to have the talk to each other, and de-register voters as appropriate, there still has to be a way to purge the rolls of voters who have died or moved.

It should all be automated.

[FourScore]

3. Some of the Hillary voters here on DU do not regard this as suppressing the vote.

They blame the voter.

[Chicago1980]

12. How do you figure?

Don't compare Hillary supporters to republicans purging voters.

There's nothing comprehensively alike about them.

[FourScore]

17. During AZ and NY, when voters were purged, Bernie voters were chastised

for most likely not registering properly. Bernie voters got mocked pretty relentlessly for being upset.

Not all Clinton voters acted this way, of course. Still, the vocal few who acted this way were pretty obnoxious. They didn't seem to understand the frustration the Bernie voters were experiencing.

Many of us Bernie voters warned the Clinton voters, we'll see how you like it when it happens in the general.

[Chicago1980]

19. What makes you think it was just Bernie voters that were purged though?

I know you didn't say it was just Bernie supporters, but that's what you're insinuating.

Arizona's situation I believe have to do a lot with the voting rights butchering.

As for New York, not enough were purged that would have changed the outcome of the election. She won by double digits in NY.

No one targeted Bernie people, it was the voting public in general, in many states that have been screwed.

[LanternWaste]

15. Of course, you'll point us towards specific posts unambiguously claiming as much, yes?

Of course, you'll point us towards specific posts unambiguously claiming as much, yes? Or is your allegation simply a "gut feeling" and you doing our homework for us (an author citing his sources) merely an unfair "gotcha" question... like asking which newspapers a candidate may read.

[Botany]

16. I live in OH and I have worked voter protection for years and to ...

.... try to put this on HRC's supporters really sucks.

[Scuba]

4. If Republicans actually believed this is a center-right nation they'd want everybody to vote.

[Enthusiast]

6. They know better.

[Enthusiast]

5. Husted's goal is to remove as many Democrats from the voter roll as possible.

He has engaged in this and other vote suppression measures since he first took office.

My wife and I have our own little voter purge story, even though we have voted our entire lives.

[TxGrandpa]

7. Happens in every state.

In Texas a person is placed on a 'suspense' list if the registration certificate is returned as undeliverable. They can't be forwarded. The name will be removed from the roll after two federal elections thereafter. [link:http://www.votetexas.gov/faq/|

[Liberal In Red State]

8. I will never understand why the DNC and Democrates in general are not fighting hard against

these measures! The management of the vote is crucial to the defeat of the GOP. If the Democrats don't push hard to permit all to vote they can kiss this and future elections good bye as it is only the numbers that help them win. I have always believed we lost 2000 and 2004 because of the GOP manipulation of the electronic vote tallies, rejection of voters at the polls scrubbed from voter rolls and reduction in the number of voting machines in major metropolitan areas leading to long lines, unbelievable wait times and closing voting booths before the lines of voters were processed. Hate the Donald all you want . . . If the turnout is mediocre, the purge of voters has done its thing in major metro areas . . . neither Hillary of Bernie stand a chance against a party that controls access to the voting booth, the tabulations and the reporting of the vote. All the efforts to get out the vote will accomplish nothing unless those people are given a ballot on Election Day . . . a ballot that is counted.

[LisaM]

9. They are. It's just a many-fronted battleground with lots of moving targets,

not to mention the Supreme Court striking down the Voting Rights Act.

A recent win:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/ohio-judge-blocks-republican-efforts-curtail-early-voting

In the 120-page opinion, Judge Michael H. Watson, a Republican, ruled that the elimination of Golden Week in Ohio "imposes a modest, as well as a disproportionate, burden on African Americans' right to vote." If the ruling stands, Ohio voters will be able to vote 35 days before the general election in November, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

"We are thrilled with the results," Marc Elias, the lead lawyer in the case (and also the Hillary Clinton campaign's top lawyer), told Mother Jones on Tuesday. "The restoration of Golden Week is a win for Ohio voters and all [who] support voting rights. It's a shame that Republican officials continue to fight against increased access to the polls, making lawsuits like this necessary."

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. At this point... nobody who could do a thing about it

cares, and you should ask yourself why.

But since it is republicans people will care.

[L. Coyote]

13. Purging legitimate voters for not voting or sending in a postcard needs a legal challenge.

It should be challenged as an infringement of one's right to vote.

[Demsrule86]

20. I live in Cortland OH

and we have lost all but two of our polling places...which are housed in the same building with a small parking lot. We went for Obama twice so Kasich the terrible is punishing us and all Democratic areas...going to be long lines in Ohio and a serious attempt to steal the election I think.