COLUMBUS- Today, the ACLU of Ohio, the National ACLU, All Voting is Local, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Common Cause Ohio, and the League of Women Voters of Ohio sent a letter to Secretary of State Frank LaRose regarding the potential disenfranchisement of naturalized citizens. When presenting their current driver’s license to vote, which aren’t required to be updated constantly, naturalized citizens may carry unexpired driver’s licenses that still bear a “noncitizen” notification on the back. This can lead to an improper rejection. Under Ohio law, H.B. 458, such licenses are allowed to be used as voter ID. However, the Secretary of State’s website incorrectly states that driver’s licenses bearing “noncitizen” notations are unacceptable forms of voter ID, wrongly confounding this designation with a credential marked “non-renewable”. This runs the risk of election officials mistakenly disenfranchising naturalized citizens.
The voting rights groups sending the letter urge Secretary LaRose to immediately correct his website and notify all local boards that a person with a renewable driver’s license — which if the holder is a recently naturalized citizen, still may bear a “noncitizen” notation — must be permitted to use that license as voter ID.
Leaders from the aforementioned organizations issued the following statement:
“Secretary LaRose’s incorrect guidance of HB 458 can lead to terrible consequences. He is putting voting rights at risk. It is not required - and it’s not always possible - for a newly naturalized citizen to quickly update their license. The law permits a naturalized citizen who is registered to vote to use a driver’s license they had previously received when a permanent resident. Early voting has been underway for almost two weeks; this error must be corrected immediately or lawful voters will continue to be at risk for disenfranchisement.”
Per the letter, the “noncitizen” notation is not the determinative factor of whether a driver’s license is an acceptable form of voter ID; rather, the determinative factor is only whether the license is marked nonrenewable/non transferable.
