|
COLUMBUS
–
A divided panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a ruling in Case Number 16-3746, the Ohio A. Phillip Randolph Institute v. Husted in his official capacity as the Ohio Secretary of State, overturning a lower court ruling by U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith. The suit sought to discontinue Ohio’s decades-long process for maintaining accurate voter rolls. The following may be attributed directly to Secretary Husted:
“With today’s ruling, the court will effectively force us to put voters back on the voter rolls who have died or long since moved to another address.
"This ruling overturns 20 years of Ohio law and practice, which has been carried out by the last four secretaries of state, both democrat and republican. It also reverses a federal court settlement from just two years ago that required exactly the opposite action.
“In the past, Ohio has seen situations where there were more people in some counties on the voter rolls than were actually eligible to vote – this undermines voter confidence and opens the door to fraud.
“It is one thing to strike down a longstanding procedure; it is another to craft a workable remedy. To that end, if the final resolution requires us to reinstate voting eligibility to individuals who have died or moved out of Ohio, we will appeal.”
|
