For years, Campaign Legal Center has worked nationwide to stop discriminatory measures that target voters through burdensome, unnecessary barriers to the freedom to vote and illegal voter purges.
But a new law in Ohio — Senate Bill (SB) 293 — continues a troubling trend that puts all voters, but particularly those who are naturalized citizens, at risk of being unlawfully purged from the voter rolls.
SB 293 not only relies on outdated data that disproportionately and discriminatorily impacts naturalized citizens, but it also directs systematic voter purges to occur monthly, even in the 90 days leading up to a federal election, putting this law in direct violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Additionally, implementation of this law would violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Campaign Legal Center, alongside the ACLU Voting Rights Project and the ACLU of Ohio and on behalf of CAIR-Northern Ohio and the League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO), filed a lawsuit on February 13, 2026, challenging this new law.
How does this new law affect voters in Ohio?
SB 293 directs the Ohio secretary of state to, at least once each month, check and compare state voter registration data with the records of the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) and the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to identify potential non-U.S. citizens for removal from the voter registration lists.
But the law as written violates the NVRA and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Section 8(b) of the NVRA states that voter roll maintenance cannot be discriminatory. However, Ohio’s use of stale, obsolete data to conduct voter purges disproportionately affects naturalized citizens who are most at risk of being improperly flagged.
That’s because driver’s licenses and other databases are often outdated and may still mark them as noncitizens, even though they have naturalized since that data was initially entered into these systems.
And Section 8(c) establishes the “quiet period” that prevents states from conducting systematic voter removals within 90 days of an election. SB 293, which requires monthly list checking, does not contain any limitations on when this systematic list maintenance activity can occur, and thus opens the door for these checks to occur in potential violation of this “quiet period” provision.
Without proper enforcement of the NVRA’s quiet period, voters are at risk of being removed from the rolls less than 90 days before the election, meaning they may not have sufficient notice of their removal or may not be able to remedy the situation in time to cast their ballot.
This lack of procedure violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Campaign Legal Center is pushing back on these anti-voter attacks.
Every American citizen, regardless of where they are born, should be able to meaningfully participate in our democracy without barriers to access. This includes naturalized American citizens, who have worked hard to become citizens and have the same freedom to vote as all other Americans.
And we already have strict laws in place that ensure only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections. These safeguards, including strict criminal punishment, financial penalties and even possible deportation, ensure that only citizens can register and vote.
As states, Congress and the president continue their attempts to implement illegal and unnecessary barriers to voting, Campaign Legal Center is steadfast in our commitment to safeguard the ballot box is accessible for all voters.
Join us in the fight today to protect the freedom to vote in Ohio and across the country.