Critics think Supreme Court goes retro

Ruling to uphold purge of voter rolls condemned

HARTFORD — A U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Ohio’s removal of non-voting people from voter rolls is sparking hand-wringing in Connecticut and across the country.

“Simply not voting is not — and should not — be a reason to prevent otherwise eligible voters from exercising their right to vote in the future,” said Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.

“(This) decision is a blow to efforts to remove barriers to voting and will make it easier for states to remove eligible voters from their voter rolls,”

Merrill said.

The court Monday affirmed an Ohio rule that allows election officials to purge people who do not vote during a single federal election cycle, which is two years. Ohio voters receive a notice in the mail and if they don’t respond — and don’t vote for two more years — they are taken off the voter rolls.

The increasingly conservative Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to affirm the Ohio rule, rejecting arguments that the state was violating federal law designed to increase the number of registered voters.

In Connecticut, a voter can skip two federal election cycles — or four years — before receiving a notice that their name may be taken off the voter rolls.

Voting in a local race or signing a petition to place a candidate on a ballot is enough to stop the purge process.

American Civil Liberties

Union Director Anthony Romero said the ruling “rubber stamped” voter suppression tactics.

“I’m furious, but I’m more driven than ever to defend our most fundamental right,” Romero said.

“This decision is a gutting reminder that the Trump administration is determined to turn back the clock on our voting rights,” Romero said. “For decades, the Justice Department maintained this type of voter purge was illegal, but under the Trump administration and Attorney General Sessions the department switched sides and supported Ohio’s unnecessary restrictions on the right to vote.”

Romero said the state “wrongly assumes that voters who don’t cast a ballot in two years have changed addresses, invalidating their current registrations. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Ohioans have been stripped of their right to vote, and many only find out when they arrive at the voting booth.”

Merrill said Ohio is known for vote suppression and has removed millions of voters from its rolls.

“In Ohio, as throughout American history, the burden of being removed from the voter rolls fell more heavily on people of color, the poor and those with disabilities,” Merrill said.

“As Justice (Sonia) Sotomayor said in her dissent, ‘Our democracy rests on the ability of all individuals, regardless of race, income or status, to exercise their right to vote,’” Merrill said.

“Ohio’s efforts to purge voters from their rolls, 2 million voters since 2011 — more than any other state — flies directly in the face of that bedrock democratic principle,” Merrill added.

The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State also slammed the court’s decision.

“The conservative majority on the Supreme Court just delivered a massive blow to voting rights by giving the green light for states to purge eligible voters if they happen to sit out a single election cycle,” the association said.

“We need to accelerate our efforts to fight back against voter suppression before the November elections,” the association noted.