LIMA — For many Americans, voting is seen as one of the many benefits of living in this nation, with citizens given the privilege and responsibility of helping to decide who will lead cities, counties, states and even the nation into the future. However, at area county boards of elections, hundreds, even thousands of people are purged from voter rolls every year, many due to lack of participation.
“I think voter apathy is the biggest reason,” Allen County Board of Elections Director Kathy Meyer said. “People have come in and complained, saying, ‘I didn’t even know there was an election.’ Well, how can you not know there’s an election when your neighbor has a bunch of signs in his yard?”
A recent study found that at least 30,000 Ohio voters have been purged from voter rolls since 2012. These names do not include deceased voters, but are instead limited to those who have not participated in any election process, be it voting in an election or signing a petition, over the course of many years.
“We have a supplemental list, and those are people we have not heard from for at least two years,” Meyer said. “They are sent a notice and are given a date, which is usually three years out, saying if they do not vote by the next general election three years out, then we go in and purge them after that date. So it takes four to six years for a person to get purged from our voter rolls.”
In Allen County, 1,226 voters were purged from the voter roll in Allen County, with an additional 3,976 purged between 2011 and 2013. The active voter roll in the county has shrunk from 69,525 in 2012 to 66,849 this year. Putnam County had 857 names purged from the voter roll last year, while Auglaize County had only 704 voters removed in its most recent purge in 2013. Auglaize County has 32,000 registered voters.
“We have a lot of active voters, people who want to have a voice in the process,” Auglaize County Board of Elections Director Michelle Wilcox said. “Both Democrats and Republicans will have booths at the county fair where you can sign up to register to vote.”
Wilcox reiterated that it is very difficult for voters to get purged from the roll.
“The names that are on our 2015 supplemental list won’t get purged until 2019,” she said. “We try to give every opportunity for people to stay on.”
