Ohio has removed hundreds of noncitizens from its voting rolls as the state conducts an audit of registered voters ahead of the November presidential election.
On Thursday, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced county boards of elections are being directed to remove 499 noncitizen registrations from the state’s voter rolls.
“I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of our state, and that document clearly states that only United States citizens can participate in Ohio elections,” LaRose said in a press release announcing the news. “That means I’m duty-bound to make sure people who haven’t yet earned citizenship in this country aren’t voting. If or when they do become citizens, I’ll be the first one to congratulate them and welcome them to the franchise, but until then the law requires us to remove ineligible registrations to prevent illegal voting.”
Ohio is in the middle of a multiphase comprehensive audit of the statewide voter registration database as the state gears up for the general election on Nov. 5.
LaRose’s directive this week comes after the Secretary of State’s Public Integrity Division and Office of Data Analytics and Archives initiated a review of voter records for compliance with Ohio’s constitutional citizenship requirement in May. At the time, LaRose uncovered and removed 137 illegal immigrants from voter rolls.
The Buckeye State has also removed nearly 155,000 registrations that were confirmed to be abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years, according to LaRose.
The potential for noncitizen voting to affect the integrity of U.S. elections has become a talking point for the GOP this election cycle.
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Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is one of many Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) who supports passing a federal ban on noncitizen voting.
Meanwhile, Democrats such as Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) argue that such legislation could disenfranchise American citizens, including military members stationed abroad and married women whose names have changed.
