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A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 12 June 2018

Supreme Court allows Ohio, other state voter purges

By MARK SHERMAN sity of California at Irvine,
Associated Press called the case "a close
WASHINGTON (AP) — question of statutory inter-
States can target people pretation." Hasen said the
who haven't cast ballots in lawsuit the court resolved
a while in efforts to purge Monday did not involve
their voting rolls, the Su- allegations of discrimina-
preme Court ruled Monday tion against minority voters,
in a case that has drawn and he suggested the laws
wide attention amid stark in Ohio and other states
partisan divisions and the could be vulnerable to a
approach of the 2018 elec- legal challenge on those
tions. grounds.
By a 5-4 vote that split the Civil rights groups said the
conservative and liberal court should be focused on
justices, the court rejected making it easier for people
arguments in a case from to vote, not allowing states
Ohio that the practice vio- to put up roadblocks to
lates a federal law intend- casting ballots.
ed to increase the ranks of "With the midterm election
registered voters. A hand- season now underway,
ful of other states also use the court's ruling demands
voters' inactivity to trigger heightened levels of vigi-
processes that could lead lance as we anticipate that
to their removal from the officials will read this ruling
voting rolls. as a green light for loosely
Justice Samuel Alito said for In this Dec. 14, 2017, file photo, ballots await further processing at the Franklin County Board of purging the registration rolls
the court that Ohio is com- Elections in Columbus, Ohio. in their community," said
plying with the 1993 Nation- Associated Press Kristen Clarke, president
al Voter Registration Act. and executive director of
He was joined by his four from minorities and poorer confirm that they have not my view, Ohio's program the Lawyers' Committee for
conservative colleagues in people who tend to vote moved and continue to be does just that." Breyer said Civil Rights Under Law.
an opinion that drew praise for Democrats. Republi- eligible to vote. many people received Ohio has used voters' in-
from Republican officials cans have argued that Voters who return the card mailings that they discard activity to trigger the re-
and conservative scholars. they are trying to promote or show up to vote over without looking at them. moval process since 1994,
The four liberal justices dis- ballot integrity and prevent the next four years after Failure to return the notice although groups repre-
sented, and civil rights voter fraud. they receive it remain reg- "shows nothing at all that senting voters did not sue
groups and some Demo- Ohio's contested voter istered. If they do nothing, is statutorily significant," he the Republican secretary
crats warned that more Re- purge stems from an inof- their names eventually fall wrote. of state, Jon Husted, until
publican-led states could fensive requirement in fed- off the list of registered vot- In a separate dissent, Jus- 2016. As part of the lawsuit,
enact voter purges similar eral law that states have ers. tice Sonia Sotomayor said a judge last year ordered
to Ohio's. to make an effort to keep The case hinged on a provi- Congress enacted the vot- the state to count 7,515
Ohio is of particular inter- their voter rolls in good sion of the voter registration er registration law "against ballots cast by people
est nationally because it shape by removing people law that prohibits removing the backdrop of substantial whose names had been re-
is one of the larger swing who have moved or died. someone from the voting efforts by states to disen- moved from the voter rolls.
states in the country with But Ohio pursues its goal rolls "by reason of the per- franchise low-income and Husted called the decision
the potential to determine more aggressively than son's failure to vote." minority voters." The court's "a victory for electoral in-
the outcome of presiden- most, relying on two things: Alito said that the two fac- decision essentially endors- tegrity."
tial elections. But partisan voter inactivity over six tors show that Ohio "does es "the very purging that He is running for lieutenant
fights over ballot access years encompassing three not strike any registrant Congress expressly sought governor this November
are playing out across the federal elections and the solely by reason of the fail- to protect against," Soto- on the Republican ticket
country. Democrats have failure to return a card, ure to vote." mayor wrote. headed by Mike DeW-
accused Republicans of sent after the first missed Justice Stephen Breyer, Richard Hasen, an election ine, the current attorney
trying to suppress votes election, asking people to countered in his dissent: "In law expert at the Univer- general.q