Judge allows Ohio to remove inactive voters from rolls

Ohio’s secretary of state can purge inactive voters from voting rolls, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, according to Reuters.

{mosads}U.S. District Judge George Smith struck down a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Ohio challenging the secretary of state’s authority to strip inactive voters from the registry.

The ACLU contends that the measure disenfranchises minority and poor voters — blocs that lean Democratic. But the judge disagreed, pointing out that voters can only be removed after failing to vote and respond to a change of address confirmation. 

Secretary of State John Husted, a Republican, applauded the decision, saying that the policy has been used by both Democrats and Republicans who have occupied his office since the 1990s.

“While today’s ruling reaffirms that the process Ohio has used for over two decades is constitutional and in line with state and federal law, the best news is that we can put another wasteful lawsuit behind us and focus on the important work of running elections in Ohio,” he said in a statement.