The current Ohio voting registration system allows ineligible persons who are not US citizens to (1) be active electors on Ohio voter rolls and (2) vote in Ohio elections, in violation of the Ohio Constitution, federal and state laws.
The National Voter Rights Act (NVRA) passed by US Congress in 1993 requires an applicant registering to vote to mark a checkbox stating the person is a US citizen. No supporting documents to indicate citizenship are necessary, and no verifications are made to existing citizenship documents already on file at state agencies (e.g. BMV and ODJFS). Our government uses the 'honor' system to meet the citizenship requirement when registering to vote.
Voter registration forms are distributed from the SOS by designated Ohio agencies along with applications for Ohio public assistance to individuals in need of child care, food, medical or cash assistance, along with other services. These applicants may fill out a voter registration form along with other application forms for public assistance without understanding the voter registration form is optional or understanding the requirements to be a US citizen when registering to vote.
The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform & Immigrant Responsibility Act makes it a criminal offense for a non-citizen to vote in a federal election.
In November 2022, Ohio citizens voted overwhelmingly to prohibit persons who are not US citizens from voting in local elections by amending Ohio Constitution Article V, Sec 1 so that “Only a citizen of the United States . . . has the qualifications of an elector, and is entitled to vote at all elections. No person who lacks those qualifications shall be permitted to vote at any state or local election held in this state.”
Ohio Revised Code 3503.07 states “Each person . . . who is a citizen of the US . . . will . . . be entitled to be registered as an elector . . .”
Ohio Revised Code 3503.01 states: “(A) Every citizen of the United States . . . has the qualifications of an elector and may vote at all elections . . .“
An Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) driver license/state identification (DL/ID) number or the last four digits of social security number (SSN4) are required to register to vote in Ohio:
Individuals who are not US citizens may have a DL/ID card. Over the next eight years or more, all DL/ID cards will indicate citizen or non-citizen status; however, it is not currently possible to determine every voter registration applicant is a US citizen based solely on viewing an Ohio DL/ID number/card. As of April, 2023, The Department of Public Safety (DPS) reported over 220,000 Ohio DL/IDs issued to individuals who are not US citizens. Given the thousands of illegal immigrants entering the US daily through the southern border since the DPS Report in April, 2023, this number is likely to increase significantly.
Individuals who are not US citizens have social security numbers. It is not possible to determine a voter registration applicant is a US citizen based solely on viewing the SSN4 entered on a voter registration application form.
Although federal laws, the Ohio Constitution and Ohio State laws require US citizenship to register and vote, the requirement to verify US citizenship before adding a person to Ohio’s voter rolls as an eligible elector is not specifically addressed in any law or Secretary of State (SOS) directives. There is presently no US citizenship verification process prior to adding a person to Ohio's voter rolls, causing potential ineligible non-citizens to exist on Ohio voter rolls and vote in Ohio elections.
While the BMV and other state agencies such as Ohio Job & Family Services have citizenship documents on file that may legally be used to verify citizenship before adding a voter registration applicant to Ohio’s voter rolls, that process is currently not utilized to assure only US citizens are registered and voting in Ohio as required by federal and state laws and the Ohio Constitution.
Per Ohio Revised Code 3503.152, the SOS conducts an Annual Review of the official statewide voter registration database (SWVRD) to identify persons who appear not to be US citizens based solely on citizenship documents on file at the BMV.
The SOS Annual Non-Citizen Review is deficient in many areas:
(1) Since the Non-Citizen Review is only administered annually, it may be possible for non-US citizens to be active registered voters for up to a year before any verification for US citizenship is initiated. This includes the possibility of non-citizens VOTING in Ohio elections.
(2) Only a fraction of the potential total non-citizens on Ohio voter rolls are identified using the existing SOS Annual Non-Citizen Review criteria described below.
(3) Only a fraction of the potential total non-citizens on Ohio voter rolls are identified using citizenship documents on file only at the BMV, since not all voter registration applicants have or enter a BMV DL/ID on a voter registration form.
(4) An identified non-citizen from a Non-Citizen Review is requested to provide documents to prove they are a citizen or to self-cancel their voter registration. The only other way a non-citizen can be removed from Ohio voter rolls is through the legal system.
Instead of performing a current citizenship verification using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program managed by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in which current citizenship status is obtained based on citizenship documents on file at the BMV and all other state agencies, or utilizing other available government or commercial database(s), the SOS Annual Non-Citizen Review utilizes the following criteria to identify a non-citizen per Ohio Revised Code 3503.152:
FIRST, an individual must submit documents to the BMV to indicate the person is not a US citizen;
SECOND, the individual must register to vote, or change their voter registration name or address, or vote;
THIRD, the individual must AGAIN submit documents to the BMV to indicate the person is not a US citizen.
How many non-citizens are excluded from the SOS Annual Non-Citizen
Review based on the above established criteria?
How many non-citizens register to vote BEFORE submitting documents to
the BMV?
What if non-citizens do not ever submit documents to the BMV?
What if non-citizens do not submit documents to the BMV a 2nd time?
The SOS Annual Non-Citizen Review may exclude all electors who enter SSN4 as identification instead of a DL/ID on their voter registration application form, even though the SOS may have access to non-citizen records from the Social Security Administration and state agencies other than the BMV.
The federal law Help America Vote Act (HAVA) (a)(5)(A)(i)(I,II) and (iii), requires a DL/ID number to be entered as identification on a voter registration form and only if there is no DL/ID, shall SSN4 be entered as identification.
Over 25,000 electors were added to Ohio voter rolls in 2023 where SSN4 was entered as identification on voter registration forms (based on Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) reporting). Keep in mind, these voter registrations were added to Ohio voter rolls BEFORE the applicants were verified as qualified electors. It is likely none of these electors will ever be verified for US citizenship on the current SOS Annual Non-Citizen Review that only identifies non-citizens based on BMV records.
Since 2011, over 800,000 electors were added to Ohio voter rolls where SSN4 was entered as identification on voter registration forms (based on HAVV reporting). Keep in mind, these voter registrations were added to Ohio voter rolls BEFORE the applicants were verified as qualified electors. It is likely none of these electors have or will ever be verified for US citizenship on the current SOS Annual Non-Citizen Review that only identifies non-citizens based on BMV records.
Note: Concerned Ohio citizens attempted to improve Ohio Revised Code 3503.152 language to include a more comprehensive Non-Citizen Review in Senate Bill 71 (SB71) March 2023 but efforts were dismissed. SB71merged into the Ohio House Budget Bill (HB33) and was signed into law July 2023 with the current language in 3503.152 that does not verify all electors on Ohio voter rolls are US citizens.
Due to the lack of verification that only US citizens exist as electors on Ohio's voter rolls, accurate and current voter rolls are not maintained in Ohio, in violation of NVRA Sec 2(b) which states, "The purposes of this Act are to ensure that accurate and current voter registration rolls are maintained."
Disclaimer: All information presented in this document is believed to be correct based on publicly sourced data research but is not guaranteed.