How to register
Registration forms are available online and are also available and may be returned in person or by U.S. mail to any of the following public offices:
•Any county board of elections
•The Ohio Secretary of State’s office
•BMV or Deputy Registrars
•Department of Job and Family Services
•Department of Health (including the Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program)
•Department of Mental Health
•Department of Developmental Disabilities
•Rehabilitation Services Commission
•Any state-assisted college or university that provides assistance to disabled students
•Any county treasurer’s office
•Any public high school or vocational school
•Any public library
Source: Clark County Board of Elections
Tale of two years
4,633 — inactive voters in 2014
3,938 — inactive voters in 2013
— Clark County Board of Elections
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More than 4,600 local voters deemed inactive have been removed from the Clark County Board of Elections voter rolls.
Voters are classified as inactive if they have not voted, signed a petition or updated their voter registration in a period of six years, BOE Director Matthew Tlachac said.
“If the voter did not return a notice confirming their registration and had no voting activity for a period of time which must include two federal elections (2012 and 2014), the voter’s name is removed from the voter rolls,” he said.
All 88 county boards of elections update their voter rolls every odd year as part of a federal statute designed to keep voting rolls accurate.
“It reduces the size of your precincts to some degree and gives you a better idea of who’s exactly still considered to be an active voter,” Tlachac said. “There are a lot of people who have been removed because they no longer live in the county, or maybe even the state of Ohio, or they’re people who just don’t want to vote anymore.”
The 4,633 removed from the voter rolls were sent confirmation notices, but didn’t respond. However, they can vote in the Nov. 3 general election if they complete a voter registration form by Oct. 5. They can also vote on a provisional ballot.
Dale Henry, an elections board member, said inactive voters are a problem statewide.
“It’s something that the parties need to work on to get these people back into active status again. The upcoming presidential year might be enough incentive to do that,” he said.
Henry referred to removing inactive voters as “purging the rolls.” Officials may need to do more to notify inactive voters of their status because many often are unaware that they are inactive, he added.
Another elections board member, Lynda Smith, said officials do everything they can to reach out to inactive voters, but some just don’t respond.
When voters don’t respond to confirmation notices it’s unknown if they have moved or died, she added.
“If those people haven’t voted for that long it’s hard for us to know if they’re really there,” Smith said. “Some of them are gone. It’s just something we have to go through to try to make the (voter) rolls up-to-date and try to make it as fair as we can.”
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