Ohio SOS Noncitizen Voting Purge 08.12.24

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Ohio Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Pursuant to the Ohio Freedom of Information Act and the National Voter Registration Act, Documented makes the following request for copies of records:

1. A record of all voters removed or inactivated based on non-citizenship, or whose registration status was otherwise changed based on noncitizenship;
2. All communications between any government agencies, including counties, regarding such removal, inactivation, or other change in status;
3. All data supporting the reasons for each such removal, inactivation, or other change in status;
4. All communications with those voters who were removed, inactivated, or whose registration status was otherwise changed;
5. All communications related to Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s announcement of the removal of “499 non-citizen registration”, as well as all communications pertaining to LaRose’s STATEWIDE VOTER REGISTRATION INTEGRITY AUDIT.

Please provide all responsive records from January 1, 2024, through the date the search is conducted.

Please note that the National Voter Registration Act requires that states make available for public disclosure “all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters[.]” 52 U.S.C. § 20507(i)(1).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. Additionally, we request a fee waiver for this request. I would prefer the request filed electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Please confirm receipt of this request. ​​Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.

Sincerely,

Victoria Cadostin

Dear Ms. Warren,

I have questions about your withholding of the requested records pursuant to the Confidential Law Enforcement Investigatory Records exemption.

First, a record only pertains to a law enforcement matter if the investigation was initiated upon specific suspicion of wrongdoing and not as part of routine maintenance. See, e.g., State ex rel. Natl. Broadcasting Co. v. Cleveland (1988), 38 Ohio St.3d 79, 83, 526 N.E.2d 786, 790 (investigations were routinely conducted on all applicants and thus were not law enforcement investigatory records under the statute). Were all of the requested records generated as part of a specific investigation rather than an overall maintenance of voter rolls? If not, those records do not qualify under the CLEIR exemption and must be provided.

Second, what “criminal, quasi-criminal, civil, or administrative law” do you allege has been violated? To the extent that a noncitizen registering to vote is subject to criminal penalties, the Secretary of State does not have the authority to investigate or enforce criminal law violations. And even if the Secretary of State’s records could be used by a law enforcement agency in a criminal investigation, the original records in the possession of the Secretary of State are not covered by the CLEIRs exemption, even if the copies transferred to the law enforcement agency are covered. See, e.g., State ex rel. Dillery v. Icsman, 92 Ohio St.3d 312, 316 (2001) (street repair records of city’s public works superintendent not covered under CLEIRs simply because the records may become relevant to a criminal case); State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Hamilton Cty., 75 Ohio St.3d 374, 378 (1996) (public record that “subsequently came into the possession and/or control of a prosecutor, other law enforcement officials, or even the grand jury has no significance” because “[o]nce clothed with the public records cloak, the records cannot be defrocked of their status”).

Finally, federal law requires each state to “maintain for at least 2 years and shall make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters." 52 U.S.C. § 20507(i)(1). In addition, the Help America Vote Act (“HAVA”) requires states to ensure that such lists are “accurate and . . . updated regularly” by performing “list maintenance . . . on a regular basis . . . in a manner that ensures that . . . the name of each registered voter appears in the computerized list [and that] only voters who are not registered or who are not eligible to vote are removed from the computerized list.” 52 U.S.C. § 21083(a). Thus, the requested records that relate to “the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters,” including records of voters removed or inactivated based on noncitizenship and communications or other data related to those removals and inactivations, are subject to disclosure despite any state exemptions under a public records law. See, e.g., Pub. Int. Legal Found., Inc. v. Bellows, 92 F.4th 36, 49 (1st Cir. 2024) (“[T]he evaluation of voter registration rolls would be impossible if the results of Maine's voter list registration and maintenance activities were not subject to public disclosure.”). In addition, this type of maintenance being required by federal law undermines your claims that the requested records are CLEIR records pertaining to law enforcement matters initiated upon specific suspicion of wrongdoing.

Please provide the records that are required to be provided under federal law as well as the requested additional information for any records that you believe are not covered by federal law mandates and that you continue to withhold pursuant to the CLEIR exemption.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to your response.

Hello,

Thank you for acknowledging the request. When do you anticipate these records will be sent to me?

My best,
Victoria

Hi Seth,

Thank you for your email, I agree there may have been a miscommunication. I do have two emails from you with the same message, dated November 19th and 20th, and they state the following:

"Dear Ms. Cadostin,

This email is in response to your public records request from August 21, 2024, and your follow-up dated October 22, 2024.

On August 21,2024, you requested, inter alia:
“1. A record of all voters removed or inactivated based on non-citizenship, or whose registration status was otherwise changed based on noncitizenship;
2. All communications between any government agencies, including counties, regarding such removal, inactivation, or other change in status;
3. All data supporting the reasons for each such removal, inactivation, or other change in status;
4. All communications With those voters who were removed, inactivated, or whose registration status was otherwise changed;”

Is the rest of the email missing? I don't see any documents attached to the email either so I'm a bit confused. Looking forward to your response.

My best,
Victoria C.