Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted today contacted the Voter Participation Center in Washington D.C. to make them aware of a number of recurring errors surrounding the group’s voter registration drive. Both the Secretary of State’s Office and Boards of Election across Ohio have reported an unusually high number of voter complaints regarding the effort, which is attempting to contact unregistered individuals via U.S. Mail with a voter registration form. Ohioans have reported the registration mailing being addressed to family pets as well as to those who will not yet be 18 before the November 2016 General Election. The Voter Participation Center’s mailing has also commonly been ad- dressed to people who do not live in Ohio as well as citizens who are deceased.
“We’ve worked hard for years to remove deceased voters and duplicate registrations from the rolls. Careless work by outside groups is harmful to the cause of election integrity,” Secretary Husted said. “Raising awareness for upcoming elections and encouraging people to get registered to vote is good for democracy, but encouraging people to register deceased relatives and family pets is damaging to the credibility of future elections.”
The letter submitted to the group by the Secretary of State’s Office requests that the organization work with its data provider to improve the accuracy of the information used for future mailings.
Secretary Husted also advised the 88 county boards of election of the issue so they can appropriately ad- dress concerns from residents.
Full Article: The Clermont Sun » Husted warns election officials of error-laden voter registration drive.