New data removes 30,000 dead voter registrations in Ohio

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(The Center Square) – Ohio is stepping up efforts to remove names from its registered voter list.

With greater access to a federal database thanks to the Trump administration, Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered local boards of elections to remove thousands of inactive registrations from dead Ohioans.

LaRose’s office told The Center Square 30,216 deceased voters have been removed from the rolls since LaRose issued the directive earlier this month.

That’s in addition to other deceased voters being removed under the system the state currently uses to track deaths.

LaRose said his office found deceased records by using expanded federal data verification, specifically Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system to search death records reported by the Social Security Administration.

“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,” LaRose said in a statement. “We need federal records to do this work, especially to check citizenship status. I’m grateful to now be working with an administration in Washington that shares our commitment to election integrity through honest and accurate voter rolls.”

LaRose sued the Biden administration for access to the records, but the lawsuit ended when the Trump administration began allowing state officials to get the information.

The new information led to LaRose issuing the new directive.

The directive reads, “We now have that access, and this is the first of what will likely be several directives aimed at voter list maintenance based on these new sources of federal government data. Significantly, the Department of Homeland Security has expanded SAVE’s capabilities to include verifying death records reported to the Social Security Administration.”

Ohio has relied on monthly death records from the Ohio Department of Health and the State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events network to identify deceased voters.

LaRose said that system sometimes led to gaps in the data that allowed deceased voters to remain on the rolls until caught by other processes, which removes registrations after six years of inactivity and multiple attempts to contact the voter.