A new law in Ohio will require the secretary of state to review its voter registration database “at least” monthly for the purposes of identifying and removing noncitizens from the list, perhaps the strictest oversight of this specific issue in the country.
The enactment of Senate Bill 293 comes seven weeks after an announcement from Secretary Frank LaRose’s office that he was referring evidence of 1,084 noncitizens registered to vote to the Department of Justice, of which 167 appeared to have cast a ballot in one of the four most recent federal elections. There are around 8 million registered voters in Ohio.
The legislation was billed as a change to the deadline for Ohio boards of elections to receive mail ballots, which Gov. Mike DeWine ended up approving on the basis of not confusing absentee voters in the upcoming election. A pending Supreme Court case could result in the invalidation of post-Election Day deadlines for the receipt of mail votes in several states, and the second-term Republican said he prioritized clarity above his own policy preference. “I normally would veto a repeal of this four-day grace period, and frankly, that’s what I wish I could do,” he remarked during a bill signing ceremony for unrelated legislation on Friday.
Upon signing two election reform bills in 2023, DeWine said that he considered the issue of election integrity “settled” under his administration, “and I do not expect to see any further statutory changes to Ohio voting procedures while I am Governor.”
Multiple election integrity issues have continued to gain steam nationwide since, including noncitizen voting. Since 2024, eight states have adopted constitutional amendments specifying that only citizens can vote in their elections, bringing the total number with such constitutional language to 15. The regularity of state audits to specifically check for noncitizen registrations, however, varies. As an example, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty proposed a five-step plan for regular noncitizen voting audits after the state approved its constitutional amendment in ‘24, putting into relief the absence of standardized enforcement.
Ohio’s bill explicitly instructs the secretary of state’s office to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database in its audit process, in addition to the state bureau of motor vehicles. LaRose had already entered into an agreement with the federal government to use the tool for such a purpose in late-fall.
SB 293 requires the secretary to send each county board of elections a report of each person who is found by SAVE or BMV to not be a U.S. citizen. The board then must “promptly” cancel each such person’s registration. The affected individuals are provided a total of 60 days for them to confirm their citizenship, from the time they receive notification of their status from the state.
One potential legal issue with the legislation identified by Ohio’s legislative budget office is its potential to run afoul of federal statute. The National Voter Registration Act prohibits states from systematically removing voters from their rolls within 90 days of federal elections, yet SB 293 mandates monthly audits regardless of the election calendar. The NVRA lists death, criminal convictions, adjudication of incompetence, and changes made at the elector’s own request as valid within the 90-day window.
The full bill text is available here.