The United States Supreme Court has held that Ohio's method of removing people from voter registration rolls is constitutional, in a 5-4 decision delivered Monday.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion for Husted vs. Randolph, in which it was held that Ohio's method for removing voters has basis in the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, where states can mail a postcard to someone who has not voted in two years to verify they still live at their registered address. In Ohio law, if that postcard is not returned, and the voter fails to vote within 2 more years, they are removed from the voter rolls, with the assumption that they have moved from that address.
The Phillip Randolph Institute, who brought the suit, argued that removing voters in this method violated the National Voter Registration Act, which explicitly states that voters cannot be removed solely for failing to vote. The court rejected this argument, stating that the postcard method for verifying address meets the requirements to remove someone based on change of address.