Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has taken steps to scrub the voter rolls of deceased individuals, issuing a directive for county election boards to identify and remove these inactive registrations.
The action utilizes the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) system, in tandem with the Social Security Administration's death records, for a more comprehensive database check. "The voter file is a constantly changing database, in need of ongoing maintenance as people move to a new residence, change a name, become deceased, or might otherwise be identified as ineligible to vote," Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said. He credits coordination with the current Washington administration for aiding in the pursuit of "election integrity through honest and accurate voter rolls."
Previously, Ohio depended on monthly updates from the Ohio Department of Health and the State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events (STEVE) network to maintain accurate voter listings. However, this reliance sometimes resulted in deceased voters lingering on the rolls, undetected, until additional list maintenance processes were performed.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose emphasized the significance of having access to more precise federal databases, noting, "When I sued the Biden administration for access to additional federal data, these are exactly the kinds of situations we had in mind." He added that while Ohio's voter registration database is at its most accurate, "but much more work needs to be done." Ohioans can expect their state to continue utilizing federal data for ongoing voter list accuracy efforts.
