Written comment below from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose:

“We will continue to work with organizations and churches across the state to locate Ohioans who want
to stay active, while also working with the General Assembly to improve the process we use for list
maintenance in the future.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND FROM SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE:

Regarding the accuracy of registration data:

This Registration Reset list was populated with data provided to the Secretary of State by the county
boards of elections.

Regarding the timing of this voter list maintenance effort and the legally-required cancellation
deadline:

It’s important to understand that once a confirmation notice has been sent, law explicitly requires the
cancellation of an inactive registration if it has not had voter activity over the next four years. So in this
case, in June 2015, the previous administration issued Directive 2015-09, ordering local boards of
elections to mail notices to electors who have been inactive for two years in order to confirm their
status as a registered voter. This action started the four-year clock for the cancellation of their
registration, pending voter activity.

To be clear, if we did not issue our directive in June of this year, and if inactive registrations don’t
respond and their registrations aren’t cancelled, we would be explicitly breaking the law.

Here is the law: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3503.21

Key parts are:

(A) The registration of a registered elector shall be canceled upon the occurrence of any of the following:
(7) The failure of the registered elector, after having been mailed a confirmation notice, to do either of
the following:
(a) Respond to such a notice and vote at least once during a period of four consecutive years, which
period shall include two general federal elections;
(b) Update the elector's registration and vote at least once during a period of four consecutive years,
which period shall include two general federal elections.
ADDITIONALLY, RE: THE REQUIRED DEADLINE:
R.C. 3503.21(E) sets forth the timeline of cancellation for the elector’s registration identified in R.C.
3503.21(A)(7) and R.C. 3503.21(B)(2). The elector’s registration must be canceled no later than 120 days
after the date of the second general federal election in which the elector fails to vote or no later than
120 days after the expiration of the four-year period in which the elector fails to vote or respond to a
confirmation notice, which is later. Husted’s directive in 2015 required confirmation notices to be sent
between June 15, 2015 and June 30, 2015. Thus, pursuant to Ohio law and Directive 2015-09, the
timeline for cancellation of the elector’s registration identified pursuant to the 2015 Supplemental
Process could range from June 16, 2019 to October 28, 2019. (Four years from June 30, 2015 plus 120
days is October 28, 2019)
October 28, 2019 is just a few days before the November general election. The Secretary felt it was
important to give registrations that may have been cancelled ample time to re-register for the November
general election, the deadline of which is October 7th, 2019. That is why September 6th was chosen as the
deadline for cancellations.
Regarding the Registration Reset list:
Remember that the Registration Reset list is not legally required. It was a new idea of Secretary LaRose
to provide an ADDITIONAL way to reach out via outside community partners to those registrations that
receive last chance notices. Every group we’ve partnered with, including the League of Women Voters,
received an excel list that is fully sortable and easy to use. Currently we have more than 20 partners,
including the NAACP, the United Way, and the Ohio Republican Party. Anecdotal reports from local
church groups are positive and indicate that they are able to identify people from their congregations
and communities, though that has mostly been confirming that those registrations belong to people
who have moved or passed away.
The website OhioSoS.gov/RegistrationReset provides background information about the list, the
mechanism to search, as well as a way to reach out if there are any problems or concerns. Again, posting
the list was not required and was instead an extra step Secretary LaRose requested in order to give
Ohioans an opportunity to look to see if their name is on the list.
Additionally, I wanted you to see the e-mail from Grant Shaffer that was first sent to the participating
organizations on July 31st. Specifically, note the sentence that reads: “The information included in the
list is the entirety of data we received from the boards of elections. To be clear, we do not have e-mail
addresses, phone numbers, or otherwise.”

To underscore this, we certainly understand that more contact information for these registrations is
ideal, but we only are able to provide what we receive from the county boards and what Ohioans are
required to submit when they register to vote.

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Thank you for your interest in partnering with Secretary LaRose to increase voter registration in Ohio by
requesting the Registration Reset List.

As you know, both state and federal law require Ohio to maintain accurate voter records. The county
boards of elections identified the names in the attached list as registrations that have been inactive for
at least six years. While each registration will receive a communication from their county board of
elections regarding the process for maintaining their registrations’ active status, it’s our hope that your
organization can find and assist individuals that wish to continue as registered voters.

The Registration Reset List is an unprecedented initiative designed to incorporate community partners
to ensure all registered voters that want to continue their active status have that opportunity.

Mailings from the county boards of elections will go out to these registrations no later than July 29th. In
order to prevent registration cancellation, action must be taken by the individual by September 6th.
However, if the registration is cancelled, an individual may still re-register to vote up to 30 days prior to
an upcoming election. The voter registration deadline for the November 5, 2019 election is October 7,
2019.

Individuals can continue their active status in several ways:

 Respond to the postcard mailed by their county board of elections.
  Update their registration information on VoteOhio.gov.
 Mail in a voter registration form that can be found at their local board of elections, public
library, BMV or elsewhere.

For your convenience, registrations on the attached list (“Master Registration Reset List – Zip Code.xlsx”)
are sorted by county. The information included in the list is the entirety of data we received from the
boards of elections. To be clear, we do not have e-mail addresses, phone numbers, or otherwise.

We have also attached a flyer which provides simple instructions for individuals seeking to continue as
registered voters (“RegistrationReset_2up.pdf”) and a quick reference guide for organizers assisting with
outreach activities (“RegistrationReset_Overview.pdf”). Feel free to print as many as you feel are
necessary for your efforts.

Again, on behalf of Secretary LaRose I want to thank you for being our partner for this important
initiative. Please stay in touch if you have any questions. Additionally, we would be particularly
interested to hear about your experience with this project.

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Regarding the claimed discrepancies in the list of inactive voters:

The only county who had a discrepancy with their Last Chance notices was Franklin, and that issue has
been rectified. There are no registrations that will be cancelled without receiving a Last Chance notice.

Mercer County BOE

This discrepancy was discovered when the county’s reimbursement request for the Last Chance notice
did not match the estimate based upon what they submitted for the Registration Reset List. Mercer
mistakenly sent the Secretary’s office their list of inactive voters for the Registration Reset list before it
had been properly finalized at the county level. Everyone who was supposed to get a Last Chance notice
did receive one. The only change was to the Registration Reset list for those registrations in Mercer
County.
Franklin County BOE
During our review, Franklin County informed us of their situation and both parties agreed that the
Franklin County Board of Elections must send a notification to impacted registrations as soon as
possible.
Henry and Huron County BOEs
Their Registration Reset number increased because they did not follow the proper submission
procedures as set forth in the Secretary’s directive. However, everyone who was supposed to receive a
Last Chance notice did receive one. Like Mercer County, everyone who was supposed to get a Last
Chance notice did receive one. The only change was to the Registration Reset list for those registrations
in these respective counties.