News
Sen. Brown Takes On Voter Rolls With Proposed Legislation
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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Ohio’s top Democratic elected official is fighting the state’s process when it comes to scratching voters off the rolls.
The new bill from U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling approving Ohio’s voter roll cleanup process. It states no voter should be kicked off the rolls just because they failed to cast a vote or respond to a notification letter.
That’s the process in Ohio now, a process that takes six years before someone loses their registration.
“They shouldn’t have their right to vote taken away,” Brown said. “They shouldn’t take away people’s right to free speech just because you didn’t go to a rally or you didn’t run for office yourself. I mean the right to free speech, the right to vote are dearly held in our society.”
Republicans say Brown used the process himself as Secretary of State and twice supported bills that enacted these types of notification measures. Brown’s office contends that’s because the alternative was purging voters with no process at all.