Rep. Sweeney Applauds Voting Advocates Victory, Renews Call to Stop the Purge

State Representative Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) issued the following statement in response to the news that the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute settled its legal challenge against Secretary of State Frank LaRose such that Ohioans’ ballots will be counted even if they are caught up in the voter purge. See the settlement agreement here and her statement below.

"I applaud the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute, the ACLU of Ohio, and Demos for fighting for the rights of Ohio voters and winning. We should absolutely count the ballot of every voter who is wrongfully purged, but that doesn’t mean we should keep on purging eligible Ohioans from the rolls. That’s why I renew my call on Secretary LaRose to cancel the pending voter purge to be sure only those who are no longer eligible are ultimately removed.

"In this settlement agreement, the Secretary agreed to review the current purge list comparing it against BMV records and restoring the Active status of anyone whose BMV address still matches their voter registration address. With this new task at hand, it would be unwise to continue to impose the September 6 purge deadline, just one week away, on Boards of Elections."