Politics

Some Purged Ohio Voters Can Cast Provisional Ballots In Midterms

In Ohio, voters are purged from the system if they haven't cast a ballot in recent elections or answered state notices to confirm their eligibility.

Some Purged Ohio Voters Can Cast Provisional Ballots In Midterms
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Some Ohio voters who were purged from the state's voter rolls will now be allowed to cast provisional ballots in the 2018 midterm elections. 

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling on Wednesday. 

In Ohio, voters are purged from the system if they haven't cast a ballot in recent elections or haven't answered state notices to confirm their eligibility. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Ohio's purging process.

But advocacy groups argued the notices Ohio sent out didn't make it clear that voters would be removed from registration rolls if they didn't respond or vote. 

The federal appeals court agreed and said Ohio voters who were purged between 2011-2015 should be allowed to cast provisional ballots so long as they meet a few requirements — like voting in the right polling location and living in the same county as when they were previously registered. Ohio made its notices a little clearer in 2016.