Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is moving to purge hundreds of non-citizens currently registered to vote after an election year audit revealed flaws in state voter rolls.
The audit uncovered 499 individuals who were registered to vote but were not U.S. citizens. The removals announced Thursday include individuals who confirmed their non-citizen status to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. That data was then paired with the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which also confirmed them to be non-citizens.
"These individuals failed to respond to notices from the Secretary of State’s office asking that they either confirm their citizenship status or cancel their registration," LaRose's office said in a statement.
Officials clarified that any individual losing their registration as a result of Thursday's action may submit a provisional ballot, which "will be counted upon proof of citizenship."
"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 told Fox News Digital in a statement. "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."
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Ohio law requires that in order for a person to be removed from voter rolls, they must have confirmed their lack of citizenship to the BMV on two separate occasions, and also have updated their voter registration or voted in between the two occasions.
Ohio had previously removed 136 non-citizens from its voter rolls in May. That action came as a result of an internal investigation relying on state data. LaRose called on President Biden's administration to release the federal SAVE data at the time and the administration complied with the request, leading to Thursday's action.
The improper voter registration could result in prosecution for some, but LaRose cautioned that not all instances are criminal. His office's Election Integrity Unit will refer cases for criminal prosecution when applicable, however.
"I want to give these folks the benefit of the doubt and say that most of them didn’t intend to break the law," LaRose said.
Ohio's audit remains an ongoing process, and LaRose's office says it may announce more voter roll purges as Election Day nears. The state has also removed nearly 155,000 registrations confirmed to be abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years.
"We want to make sure a mistaken registration doesn’t become an illegal vote. We also want to make sure that lawfully registered citizens can participate seamlessly in the process," LaRose said.
