As Ohio secretary of state from 2011 to 2019, Jon Husted ran and defended the "Supplemental Process," which removes Ohio voters who skip elections and do not answer a mailed notice, and he won at the Supreme Court in 2018. Under it, the state removed 426,781 names from voter rolls between November 2014 and November 2016, among them an Akron Navy veteran who discovered he was no longer on the list of registered voters when he went to vote. Husted also backed the 2014 law that ended Golden Week, Ohio's week of same-day registration and voting, and ordered no weekend voting in 2012.
As a U.S. senator since 2025, Husted has taken the same approach national: he wrote a photo ID amendment for every state, calls himself a cosponsor of the SAVE America Act, and voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon, whose Justice Department division demanded Ohio's voter file.
What It Cost: Ohio Voters Removed and Early Voting Lost Under Jon Husted
- Voters removed. Election Assistance Commission data show the state removed 426,781 names from voter rolls from November 2014 to November 2016 for failing to answer a confirmation notice or vote, Ideastream reported, and a Reuters analysis found at least 144,000 voters had been removed in Ohio's three largest counties, home to Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus.
- Unequal removals. In those three Ohio counties, voters in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods were removed at around twice the rate of voters in Republican-leaning neighborhoods, the Reuters analysis found.
- Veterans turned away. Larry Harmon of Akron, a Navy veteran and software engineer, discovered he was no longer on the list of registered voters when he went to vote in 2015, and NBC News reported it was that supplemental system that dropped Harmon from the rolls. Former Army Sergeant Joseph Helle told WOSU he was removed from Ohio's voter rolls without notification, while he was serving overseas, and was told at his polling place that his registration had been canceled and his vote this time would not be counted.
- Early voting lost. Senate Bill 238 eliminated the first week of early in-person voting in Ohio, and Husted's 2014 directives cut evening and Sunday hours; the ACLU of Ohio, which sued, estimated that tens of thousands of Ohio voters could be impacted by these cuts.
- Ballots rejected for ID. After Ohio's own strict photo ID law took effect in 2023, the share of provisional ballots rejected over identification more than tripled, the Ohio Capital Journal reported, the kind of rule Husted's Senate amendment would have applied nationwide.
- Voter data handed over. Ohio is one of the 16 states that gave the Justice Department its complete voter list, including driver's license and Social Security numbers, the Brennan Center's tracker shows.
Jon Husted's Actions as Secretary of State and Senator on Ohio's Voter Rolls and Voting Hours
- Husted Defended Ohio's Removal of Infrequent Voters at the Supreme Court and Won in 2018. As Ohio secretary of state, Jon Husted defended the Supplemental Process, under which voters who skip two years get a notice and those who do not return it and fail to vote in any election for four more years are presumed to have moved and are removed from the rolls. The Sixth Circuit held it illegal in September 2016, and on June 11, 2018 the Supreme Court, ruling 5-4 in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, upheld it. The ruling kept the process in force in Ohio, and the voters it removed include the two veterans who lost their registrations described above.
- Husted Backed the 2014 Law That Ended Golden Week, Ohio's Same-Day Registration Window. In 2014, Husted and the Republican state legislature cut early voting opportunities and eliminated the period when Ohioans could register and vote on the same day, NBC News reported. Golden Week, the overlap of the last week of registration and the first week of early voting, was allowed to stand by the courts, and Ohio voters lost the only window in which they could register and cast a ballot in one trip.
- Husted Wrote and Voted to Advance a National Photo ID Requirement in March 2026. On March 26, 2026, Senator Husted voted for cloture on his own amendment, S.Amdt. 4732, "To require voters to provide photo identification", which failed 53 to 47, short of the 60 votes needed. His office described it as an amendment to require voters to show photo ID at the polls, and six days earlier he had brought a bill to the Senate floor with the same requirement. The amendment would have applied to every state the kind of rule under which Ohio's provisional ballots rejected for ID more than tripled.
- Husted Cosponsored the SAVE America Act, Which Would Require Proof of Citizenship to Register. In an August 6, 2026 newsletter, Husted wrote: "As a longtime supporter and cosponsor of the SAVE America Act". The bill would require documentary proof of citizenship to register and require states to regularly turn over voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security, and the Brennan Center found that 21 million American citizens lack ready access to such documents.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Harmeet Dhillon, Whose Division Demanded Ohio's Voter File. On April 3, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights. Her division demanded full voter files from the states, and Ohio handed over its complete list, with driver's license and Social Security numbers, to the federal government.
- Husted Eliminated Evening and Nearly All Sunday Early Voting for the 2014 Election. In 2014, Husted issued directives that cut early voting further by eliminating all evening hours and nearly all Sunday voting, except for four hours on one Sunday. A federal judge ordered the hours restored, but on September 29, 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court granted Defendants' request and blocked District Court Judge Economus's order. Because of the stay, the reduced hours applied in Ohio's November 2014 general election.
- Husted Ordered No Weekend Early Voting in 2012 and Fired Two Officials Who Voted for It. In August 2012, Husted decided not to allow extended in-person voting hours for several counties, including Franklin, Cuyahoga, Summit and Lucas, when their election boards tied, and then directed all 88 county boards to have the same early in-person voting hours on weekdays and have no hours on weekends. He fired two Democrats from an elections board in southwest Ohio who had voted for weekend hours in Montgomery County. Franklin County voters would only be able to do so during office hours, WOSU reported, and the weekends before the last three days stayed closed in the 2012 election.
- Husted Called Ohio's Elections Easy to Vote In; Ohio Removed Hundreds of Thousands of Voters Under His Process. Speaking for his amendment on March 26, 2026, Husted said: "And I know what it takes to run an election where it is easy to vote and hard to cheat." Under the removal process he defended, Ohio removed 426,781 names in two years, including an Akron Navy veteran who found he was no longer on the list when he went to vote.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jon Husted on Ohio voter purges
Did Jon Husted purge voters as Ohio secretary of state?
Yes. Jon Husted ran Ohio's Supplemental Process, which removes voters who skip elections for six years and do not return a notice, and he defended it at the Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 in his favor in 2018. The process is still how Ohio removes infrequent voters.
Who was removed from Ohio's voter rolls under Jon Husted?
Under Jon Husted's process, Ohio removed voters including Larry Harmon, an Akron Navy veteran whom NBC News reported the supplemental system dropped from the rolls, and Joseph Helle, an Army veteran who says he was removed while serving overseas (WOSU). Reuters found the removals fell hardest on Democratic-leaning neighborhoods in Ohio's largest counties (NBC News).
Did Jon Husted cut early voting in Ohio?
Yes. Jon Husted ordered no weekend early voting in 2012 and in 2014 issued directives eliminating all evening hours and nearly all Sunday voting. With the legislature he also ended Golden Week in 2014, and federal courts allowed it to stand.
Does Jon Husted want a national voter ID law?
Yes. Jon Husted wrote a Senate amendment to require photo ID to vote in every state, which failed 53 to 47 on March 26, 2026, and he is a cosponsor of the SAVE America Act, which would add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to register.
Last updated: 2026-10-25