Secretary LaRose instructs county boards of elections to remove thousands of inactive voter registrations belonging to deceased Ohioans

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a statewide directive today instructing county boards of elections to remove thousands of inactive voter registrations belonging to deceased Ohioans.

The directive is the latest in a series of actions initiated by Secretary LaRose’s administration to ensure the accuracy and integrity of Ohio’s statewide voter registration database. The Secretary of State’s Office of Data Analytics and Archives identified the deceased records by using expanded federal data verification capabilities, which Secretary LaRose successfully fought to access. Specifically, this latest directive is the result of expanded access to the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) system to search death records reported by the Social Security Administration.

“The voter file is a constantly changing database, in need of ongoing maintenance as people move to a new residence, change a name, become deceased, or might otherwise be identified as ineligible to vote,” said Secretary LaRose. “We need federal records to do this work, especially to check citizenship status. I’m grateful to now be working with an administration in Washington that shares our commitment to election integrity through honest and accurate voter rolls.”

As Ohio now works to verify its statewide voter registration database against newly available federal data, the Secretary of State’s office anticipates identifying more records in need of remediation or removal. For this reason, Secretary LaRose’s administration has increased the frequency of statewide list maintenance directives, and the guidance provided to boards today builds on that continued work.

Until now, Ohio relied exclusively on monthly death records from the Ohio Department of Health and the State and Territorial Exchange of Vital Events (STEVE) network to identify deceased voters. While useful tools, gaps in the data sometimes allowed deceased voters to remain on the rolls until they were caught by the supplemental list maintenance process, which removes registrations after a total of six years of inactivity and multiple attempts to contact the voter.

“When I sued the Biden administration for access to additional federal data, these are exactly the kinds of situations we had in mind,” LaRose added. “The federal government has a lawful responsibility to share records with the states that can help to ensure the accuracy of our voter rolls, from citizenship verification to death confirmations. Ohio has the most accurate statewide voter registration database in state history, but much more work needs to be done. I’m glad we can finally get to work on this critical task.”

Directive 2025-50 can be found here: https://www.ohiosos.gov/globalassets/elections/directives/2025/dir2025-…

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