VIA EMAIL RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

October 12, 2015

ATTN: Elections Division
The Hon. Jon Husted
Ohio Secretary of State
180 E. Broad Street, 16th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215

Re: Potential duplicate voter registrations, double voters and incomplete/outdated records in Ohio
voter files

Dear Secretary Husted:

This letter and enclosed data have been respectfully submitted to raise awareness to potential duplicate
registrations found in 10 of the largest Ohio counties respective voter files accessible on your offices
public website. As you know, True the Vote (TTV) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization made up of
concerned citizens who work in concert with election officials across the country to help ensure the
highest standards of election integrity. We commend your offices coordinated effort with the various
counties involved as voter registration irregularities are probed surrounding the Issue 3 campaign.1 In
light of recent investigations, TTV respectfully submits thousands of active voter records for further
review.
In recent weeks, True the Vote undertook an effort to closely review a large sample of Ohios voter file to
spot and elevate specific voter registration records as part of a national clean-up effort. Thanks to your
offices easily accessible voter information and history records, TTV was able to identify duplicate,
incomplete/outdated and potential double voters. In total, more than 20,000 records have been flagged
across the state for further review.
Duplicate findings were sorted according to likely and possible pairs, based on the number and
quality of correlations in data fields. Our researchers regularly found voters having unequal middle initial
or suffix inputs and married/maiden name differences, which may have caused duplication. Likely parentchild pairs (16 years apart or more) were omitted from the reports.
Careful, case-by-case study of potential duplicate registrations yielded a total of 257 individuals who
appear to have voted multiple times in a single election (roughly 18 percent of the total duplicate
registrations flagged), according to available voter history files. These instances have been highlighted in
yellow in the attached spreadsheets.
Finally, TTV reviewed county voter files in search of potentially deceased and incomplete registrations
with regard to birthdates. As you know, incomplete and similar registrations can cause confusion at the
1

Cincinnati Enquirer; Board on pot petitions: You cant sign up dead people (10/6/2015),
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/10/06/vote-fraud-probed-pot-ballot-campaign/73446846/

True the Vote | 18062 FM 529 Road, Ste. 162 | Cypress, Texas 77433

polling place during in-person voting. Our research staff communicated with your office in recent weeks
to clearly understand the purpose of placeholder birthdates (e.g. 1/1/1800, 1/1/1900) found in thousands
of records across the state. Your office advised that some counties have outperformed others in updating
voter files established prior to 1968-1974. Attached to this letter, True the Vote pinpoints the specific
records in need of completion (15,599 total). In addition, TTV elevates 158 records across Ohio that
appear to be older than 109 years of age, yet do not follow placeholder birthdate formatting.
True the Vote understands that it has no
statutory authority to lay citizen challenges
on the highlighted registrations. Based on
that fact, TTV submitted its findings to the
county boards of elections with the request
they review the records and report followup maintenance actions, if applicable.
Further, TTV requested additional
maintenance details pursuant to Section 8 of
the National Voter Registration Act
(NVRA) 42 U.S.C. 1973gg-6(i):

County

Duplicates Double V.

Incomplete

Cuyahoga

827

85

110

Franklin

630

44

841

Hamilton

147

31

8,131

Summit

73

14

3,022

Montgomery

62

18

661

1. Purge date(s) since November 1,

2014 and scheduled until November
1, 2016;

Lucas

96

21

127

Stark

101

986

2. The number of ineligible voters

purged or merged by category (e.g.,
dead, duplicate, ineligible, etc.) and
by date;

Butler

95

Lorain

58

16

690

Mahoning

47

10

1,026

3. The source agency that provided

the identifying information of the purged deceased; and
4. The number of notices sent to inactive voters since November 4, 2014.
The Office of the Secretary of State has been provided with a copy of each finding file submitted to the
county boards with the hope that cooperative reviews may begin at the soonest opportunity possible. True
the Vote would commend an effort by your office to review the remaining 78 counties for similar
issues to potentially identify the underlying causes and/or third-party sources for duplicate data. The
flagged voter registrations have been provided as attachments to the email transmitting this letter in
Microsoft Excel format.
True the Vote sincerely thanks the Office of the Secretary of State for its attention and looks forward to
future conversations on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact the organization via email
(logan@truethevote.org).

True the Vote | 18062 FM 529 Road, Ste. 162 | Cypress, Texas 77433

Sincerely,

Logan Churchwell
Communications & Research Director
True the Vote
Attachments: TTV Findings File, OHcuya150824findings150930
TTV Findings File, OHfran150824findings151004
TTV Findings File, OHhami150824findings151004
TTV Findings File, OHsumm150824findings151006
TTV Findings File, OHmont150824findings151004
TTV Findings File, OHluca150824findings151004
TTV Findings File, OHstar150824findings151006
TTV Findings File, OHbutl150824findings151006
TTV Findings File, OHlora150824findings151006
TTV Findings File, OHmaho150824findings151004

True the Vote | 18062 FM 529 Road, Ste. 162 | Cypress, Texas 77433