Secretary LaRose announces enhanced audit of Ohio’s voter rolls

COLUMBUS — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced today an enhanced audit process that will continually compare voter registration records maintained by Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections with the statewide voter registration database. The enhancement is just the latest of many actions the LaRose administration has taken to improve Ohio’s list maintenance processes and data integrity efforts.

Ohio law requires the Secretary of State’s office to conduct a detailed audit of each county’s voter registration records at least once each year. Through expanded capabilities within the Office of Data Analytics and Archives, the state will now audit approximately two percent of each county’s active and confirmation voter records every day, completing a full statewide audit every three months.

“Maintaining accurate voter rolls requires detailed, ongoing work,” said Secretary LaRose. “Instead of relying on a once-a-year review, we can now examine records every day, identify discrepancies earlier, and make sure they are investigated and resolved.”

The audit compares dozens of data fields between county and statewide systems, including voter information, registration status, addresses, precincts and electoral districts.

When a discrepancy is identified, the county board is automatically notified and required to begin reviewing immediately. Boards and their voter registration vendors must investigate the root cause, document their findings and work to resolve the discrepancy. If the issue cannot be identified or resolved within five days, the board must provide the Secretary of State’s office with a plan of action.

The continual audit is designed to identify discrepancies more efficiently, improve data quality and ensure issues are documented and corrected throughout the year.