Use it or lose it: Occasional Ohio voters may be shut out in November

[Matt_in_STL]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-votingrights-ohio-insight-idUSKCN0YO19D

As the Nov. 8 elections loom, officials in Ohio have removed tens of thousands of voters from registration lists because they have not cast a ballot since 2008...

Voters of all stripes in Ohio are affected, but the policy appears to be helping Republicans in the state's largest metropolitan areas, according to a Reuters survey of voter lists. In the state’s three largest counties that include Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, voters have been struck from the rolls in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods at roughly twice the rate as in Republican neighborhoods.

That's because residents of relatively affluent Republican-leaning neighborhoods are more likely to vote in both congressional elections and presidential contests, historical turnouts show. Democrats are less likely to vote in mid-term elections and thus are more at risk of falling off the rolls.

In the three biggest counties, at least 144,000 voters have been removed, the Reuters analysis found. The statewide total is unclear. Each of the state’s 88 counties manages its own voter rolls, which generally are not made public.

Not really the state you want to hear this from. That's a lot of potential votes that could make a difference in a close race, if they could be swayed.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

1. That analysis doesn't even make sense to me

If they're going back to 2008, then that means these people didn't vote in the 2012 election either, so I'm not seeing where not voting in midterms is the issue.

[Matt_in_STL]

2. The law is that they are removed if the fail to vote in three consecutive elections

These people being removed failed to vote in 2010, 2012, and 2014 and thus are being removed.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. Yes

But the last three elections will ALWAYS include a Presidential election, so not voting in mid-term elections is irrelevant to the point the author is trying to make.

[Matt_in_STL]

4. It should have been midterm plus Presidential

[SickOfTheOnePct]

5. Sorry

I don't understand what you're trying to say.

If the law says the last three elections, then voters will always have the opportunity to vote in Presidential election, so those who don't vote in mid-terms but do vote in Presidential won't be affected. It's only people who vote in neither, and I and I don't see a problem with that.

[MattP]

6. People should never be removed from voter roles

Unless you want to be

[flor-de-jasmim]

7. Exactly. Voting is a RIGHT not a privilege you can lose on a whim.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

10. I'd question

how much someone cares about a right when they don't exercise it for eight years.

[Matt_in_STL]

8. I agree, but what leg do we have to stand on?

We have pushed the laws and rules in the primaries when people have been moved and removed, how can we possibly call this out when the law has been on the books for decades and everyone knew it?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

9. Until

they can cross-check voter rolls with death records and with voter rolls in other states, I disagree.