Ohio Senator Jon Husted wrote and voted to advance an amendment to require photo identification to vote in every state, which failed 53 to 47, short of 60 votes, on March 26, 2026; after Ohio adopted a strict photo ID rule in 2023, the share of provisional ballots rejected for lack of ID more than tripled. He is a cosponsor of the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register.
As Ohio secretary of state from 2011 to 2019, Husted ran the "Supplemental Process" that removes voters who skip elections and won at the Supreme Court in 2018. He backed the 2014 law that ended Golden Week, Ohio's week of same-day registration and voting, cut evening and Sunday early voting, ordered no weekend voting in 2012, and fired two county election officials who voted for weekend hours. As a senator he voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon, whose Civil Rights Division demanded state voter files, and Ohio handed over its full list.
Jon Husted's Actions on Voting Rights in the Senate and as Ohio Secretary of State
- Husted Wrote and Voted to Advance a National Photo ID Requirement in March 2026. On March 26, 2026, Husted voted yes on cloture for 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 in every state. Six days earlier he had brought a bill to the Senate floor with the same requirement. Husted holds up Ohio's elections as the model, but after Ohio's strict photo ID law took effect in April 2023, an All Voting Is Local analysis found that the share rejected over identification more than tripled among provisional ballots, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. A national rule would have applied the same kind of requirement to every state.
- Husted Cosponsored the SAVE America Act and Said He Voted for It Six Times. In an August 6, 2026 newsletter, Husted wrote: "As a longtime supporter and cosponsor of the SAVE America Act", adding that he had voted for it "SIX separate times." The bill would require proof of citizenship to register and require states to regularly turn over voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security; the Brennan Center's research shows that 21 million American citizens lack ready access to the documents it would require.
- Husted Defended Ohio's Removal of Infrequent Voters All the Way to the Supreme Court. As Ohio secretary of state, 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, reversed and upheld it. A Reuters analysis found at least 144,000 voters had been removed in Ohio's three largest counties, with voters in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods removed at around twice the rate of voters in Republican-leaning neighborhoods. From November 2014 to November 2016, the state removed 426,781 names from voter rolls through the process, Election Assistance Commission data show.
- Husted Backed the 2014 Law That Ended Ohio's Same-Day Registration Week. In 2014, Husted and the Republican state legislature cut early voting opportunities and eliminated the period when voters could register and vote on the same day, NBC News reported. Senate Bill 238 eliminated the first week of early in-person voting and with it "Golden Week," the overlap between the last week of registration and the first week of early voting. NBC News reported that both methods of voting are used disproportionately by African-American voters, and that the end of same-day registration was allowed to stand by the courts.
- 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, and she was confirmed 52 to 45. Her division demanded full voter files from the states, and Ohio is among the 16 that handed over complete lists with driver's license and Social Security numbers, the Brennan Center tracker shows. Under Dhillon the division's voting section dwindled from approximately 30 lawyers down to about 6.
- Husted Voted to Confirm the Officials Who Turned a Benefits Database Into a Voter Check. Husted voted to confirm Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security on January 25, 2025 and Joseph Edlow as director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which runs the SAVE database, on July 15, 2025. Their agencies expanded SAVE to check voter rolls in bulk, and in Boone County, Missouri, more than half of registered voters flagged by SAVE as noncitizens in November turned out to be citizens, the Brennan Center found.
- Husted Eliminated Evening and Nearly All Sunday Early Voting for the 2014 Election. As secretary of state in 2014, Husted issued directives that further reduced early voting 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, so the cuts applied in the November 2014 election. The ACLU, which brought the suit, estimated that tens of thousands of Ohio voters could be impacted by these cuts.
- Husted Ordered No Weekend Early Voting in 2012 and Fired Two Officials Who Voted for It. In August 2012, Husted directed all 88 county election boards to have the same early in-person voting hours on weekdays and have no hours on weekends, after he decided not to allow extended in-person voting hours for several counties, including Franklin, Cuyahoga, Summit and Lucas, when their boards tied. He then fired two Democrats from an elections board in southwest Ohio who had voted for weekend hours in Montgomery County. A federal court later restored the final three days before Election Day for all voters, after Ohio had sought to limit them to only military and overseas voters; the other weekends stayed closed.
- Husted Called Ohio's Elections Easy to Vote In; Ohio's Own ID Rejections More Than Tripled. 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." In Ohio, the state he points to, the share of provisional ballots rejected for lack of ID more than tripled in the year after its photo ID law took effect, and the removal process he defended took 426,781 names off the rolls in two years.
What Jon Husted's Voting Rules Have Meant for Ohio Voters
- Voter data handed over. Ohio gave the Justice Department its complete statewide voter list, including driver's license and Social Security numbers, one of 16 states to do so after the demand by the division Dhillon leads.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jon Husted on Voting rights
What is Jon Husted's record on voting rights under Trump?
Jon Husted wrote a national photo ID amendment that failed 53 to 47 in March 2026, cosponsors the SAVE America Act, and voted to confirm the officials who demanded state voter files and expanded citizenship checks of voter rolls. As Ohio secretary of state he ran the voter-removal process the Supreme Court upheld in 2018 and cut early voting in 2012 and 2014.
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 Reuters counted at least 144,000 voters had been removed in Ohio's three largest counties. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Husted's favor in 2018.
Does Jon Husted support the SAVE America Act?
Yes. Jon Husted calls himself a longtime supporter and cosponsor of the SAVE America Act. The Brennan Center found that a similar Kansas law prevented more than 30,000 American citizens from registering before a court struck it down in 2018, and that 21 million American citizens lack ready access to proof of citizenship.
Did Jon Husted cut early voting in Ohio?
Yes. As secretary of state, 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, Ohio's week of same-day registration and voting, which stayed eliminated.
Last updated: 2026-10-25