Secretary of State

As of September 6, as many as 200,000 Ohio voter registrations may have been removed from the rolls by county boards of elections. But a final total won’t be available till the end of this week, after they report the numbers they deleted to the state.  

Secretary of State Frank LaRose stresses most of those removed are deceased voters or duplicate registrations. Voting rights groups tried to stop the process because they feared thousands of eligible voters would be removed by mistake, and LaRose admits there are flaws in the system.

Early voting for the May primary has begun. Turnout in off-year primaries is especially low, but there may be those who try to vote and find they’ve been removed from the rolls – which critics call “purging”.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Ohioans who were removed for not voting over a six-year period must be allowed to vote in this midterm election. 

Early voting has been under way for a week, and the number of registered voters is the highest it’s been in a decade.

Many voters are opting to vote early through absentee ballot. That includes one major statewide official.

Secretary of State Jon Husted visited the Franklin County Board of Elections to drop off his absentee ballot. He says Ohio takes an all-of-the-above approach to voting, which means in-person on Election Day, in-person at your local board of election, through the mail or by drop-off.

Democrat Kathleen Clyde was in Akron Monday to discuss her run for Ohio’s Secretary of State.

During an appearance at the Akron Press Club, Clyde said her priorities include better security for Ohio’s voting machines and automatic voter registration.

One audience member asked whether or not President Donald Trump could have an effect on midterm elections.