A vendor who works with county boards of elections mistakenly flagged more than 1,600 people for purging from the rolls of eligible voters, marking the second time in three weeks that problems have surfaced with the list of registrations that could be canceled next week.
A Dispatch analysis found that 1,641 voters who cast ballots after the 2015 primary election — an action that should have prevented them from being placed on a potential purge list — were sent last-chance notices this summer, warning that their registration could be canceled Sept. 6 if they didn’t act.
That includes 110 people who voted as recently as the 2018 mid-term election.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office said it discovered problems around Aug. 16 in counties that use DIMS, a system now serviced by Election Systems & Software based in Omaha, Nebraska. Using a more recent voter list, LaRose’s office found 1,461 registrations that should not have been flagged for cancellation.
The Dispatch found 402 voters on the list who had voted since 2015 in Fairfield County and 219 in Wayne County near Wooster. Clermont County in suburban Cincinnati had the most at 681, and there were 181 in Hancock County near Findlay. Ten other counties among the 15 using DIMS had 71 or fewer improperly flagged registrations.
