Defending Ohioans from Discriminatory Voter Purges (League of Women Voters of Ohio v. LaRose)

CLC and our co-counsel filed a lawsuit on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Northern Ohio, challenging parts of Ohio Senate Bill 293 (SB 293), which was signed into law on December 19, 2025.

SB 293 requires, among other things, the secretary of state to perform monthly “citizenship checks” of the state’s voter registration list against databases at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) and the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The law also instructs local election officials to purge registered voters from the rolls if either database produces a “noncitizen” indication without meaningfully notifying the previously registered voter first and giving them a chance to correct the mistake.  

These requirements are deeply problematic because the state and federal databases at issue are widely known to have unreliable indicators of citizenship status for naturalized citizens.

These databases often incorrectly classify eligible voters because they do not reliably update when people become naturalized (and therefore are eligible to vote). In Ohio, the BMV database only updates when individuals renew their license (which can occur as infrequently as every 8 years),  

As such, tens of thousands of Ohioans are at risk of being illegally purged from the voter rolls under this new law. Approximately 4% of Ohio’s registered voters are naturalized citizens, and over 60,000 Ohioans naturalized between 2016 and 2020.    

Citizenship inquiries often produce outdated results, especially for naturalized citizens. Other states have tried using their BMV data or the DHS federal database in voter roll list maintenance, and those programs have often purged hundreds of eligible Americans from the rolls.  

There are already strict laws in place that ensure only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections. The safeguards we already have in place, including strict criminal punishment, financial penalties and even possible deportation, ensure that only eligible citizens can register and vote. In addition, every Ohio voter already signs an attestation of citizenship under penalty of perjury when they register to vote.  

The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) prohibits discrimination in maintaining voter registration lists, including discrimination against naturalized citizens. Likewise, the NVRA prohibits systematic voter removals from the rolls within 90 days of federal elections to ensure that eligible voters aren’t disenfranchised without an opportunity to fix the State’s error.

Campaign Legal Center’s lawsuit alleges that Ohio’s SB 293 violates both of these NVRA provisions. CLC’s lawsuit also alleges that removing registered voters from the rolls before notifying them violates their due process rights.

This is not the first time CLC has fought back against the use of notoriously unreliable database matching systems. We successfully sued to halt an illegal purge program that swept up thousands of eligible voters in Alabama, and we’ve submitted an amicus brief in support of a challenge to the consolidation and distribution of flawed federal citizenship data to states and other federal agencies.

Our democracy works best when every eligible voter can make their voice heard, but Ohio’s unfair, illegal voter purge program puts far too many Ohioans’ freedom to vote this November in jeopardy. This case is part of a continued and urgent effort to ensure that all citizens, regardless of whether they are US-born or naturalized, have access to the ballot.