Advocacy Organizations Deliver Letter to Ohio Secretary of State Alerting Him of SB 293’s Compliance Issues with National Voter Registration Act

COLUMBUS, OH - Today the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio, and Campaign Legal Center sent a letter to Secretary of State Frank LaRose regarding Senate Bill 293’s noncompliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The letter was sent on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Northern Ohio.

Signed into law by Governor DeWine on December 19, 2025, SB 293 is harmful, anti-democratic legislation that enacts a grab-bag of unfunded mandates and burdens that will impede the ability of legitimate voters to vote, and also encumber the work of Boards of Elections officials. The letter specifies how SB 293 violates the NVRA by mandating unlawful voter purges and wrongful removals of eligible voters.

Under SB 293, the Secretary of State must complete comparison checks of Ohio’s voter registration list with specific state and federal records to identify potential non-citizens for removal from voter rolls. Additionally, SB 293 also requires the Secretary of State to utilize these databases to systematically identify voter registration records in which certain voter information, such as date of birth or Ohio driver’s license number, does not match those in state or federal records. Voters with mismatched data must correct any information prior to voting or else they will be required to use a provisional ballot.

“SB 293 puts naturalized citizens' right to vote at risk by expanding flawed citizenship verification schemes that have a documented history of error," said Davin Rosborough, deputy director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "When eligible voters are wrongly flagged, the NVRA requires states to protect voters, especially during its quiet period when last-minute purges are prohibited precisely to prevent this kind of chaos and disenfranchisement. Ohio’s law ignores those safeguards and will likely result in qualified voters being stripped of their registration before an election. That is not election integrity. It is voter suppression.”

“Secretary LaRose is duty-bound to ensure that eligible Ohio voters can cast their ballots,” said Freda Levenson, chief legal officer of the ACLU of Ohio. “The monthly mass purges required by SB 293 are not only discriminatory; they are reliant on flawed data bases. They will inevitably deregister eligible voters, including in the lead up to elections, leaving voters unable to re-register. This will result in the disenfranchisement of perfectly eligible voters. It also violates federal law. It is imperative our elections officials promptly correct the violations specified in our letter.”

“When efforts to suppress and disenfranchise eligible voters arise, we will be there to challenge it,” Added Faten Husni Odeh, executive director of CAIR Northern Ohio. “As elected officials continue to attack and chip away at our core American freedoms, it is up to us to join in solidarity and take action. CAIR Northern Ohio is honored to join ACLU National, the ACLU of Ohio, and Campaign Legal Center to once again stand up against lawmakers' attempts to strip away our right to cast a ballot."

“Ohio’s SB 293 jeopardizes the freedom to vote by putting voters at risk of being wrongfully removed from voter rolls. Voter purges that disproportionately prevent naturalized citizens from exercising their freedom to vote or systematic removals that occur within 90 days of an election violate the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA),” said Sejal Jhaveri, senior legal counsel for litigation at Campaign Legal Center. “Every American citizen, regardless of where they are born, has the freedom to vote. We already have strict laws in place that ensure only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections, and this bill won’t make Ohio’s elections any safer or more secure. Instead, it will threaten the freedom to vote for Americans who have worked hard to earn their citizenship.”

“This new law puts eligible Ohio voters at risk of being wrongly removed from the voter rolls,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “We raised these concerns while the legislation was being debated, but they were ignored. Our hope is that this can still be fixed so no Ohioan loses their right to vote because of bad data or simple clerical mistakes that were completely beyond their control.”

“Senate Bill 293 puts eligible voters at risk of losing their registration because of paperwork errors or outdated databases,” said Caren Short, director of legal and research for the League of Women Voters. “No voter should show up on Election Day only to find they’ve been wrongly removed from the rolls or forced to cast a provisional ballot through no fault of their own. Ohio’s election system should help voters participate, not create new barriers.”

ACLU National, the ACLU of Ohio, and Campaign Legal Center urge Secretary LaRose to swiftly correct these violations. Should no action be taken in the appropriate timeframe, the organizations stand by to pursue any and all options, including litigation.