MORGANTOWN — County clerks from across the state took a look back at the May primary and a look ahead at coming elections on Wednesday. The occasion was the 2024 annual training for county clerks and deputies, held at the Marriott at Waterfront Place, with 52 of the 55 county clerks attending.
Deke Kersey, chief deputy secretary of state, provided the overview.
Primary turnout was lower than in 2020, he told them: 450,909 ballots cast in 2020 compared to 360,175 this year.
COVID probably played a role in the high 2020 turnout, he said, with half the state voting by mail. And the 2020 presidential primary was contentious, unlike this year’s. Big spending on contentious elections drives turnout.
Kersey also talked about trimming outdated voter records. Since 2017, more than 400,000 records – deaths, moved away, duplicate registrations from name changes, and other reasons – have been canceled. Meanwhile, 330,000 new names were added.
This year, he said. More than 109,000 records have been identified for cancellation and they mailed out 88,000 confirmation postcards. From those, they may have another 75,000 to 80,000 names come off the rolls after the 2026 general election.
On the topic of those postcards, he told the clerks he hopes to revive them during the 2025 legislative session an elections bill – presented by his office and supported by the clerks – that failed this year.
The bill was SB 622, to trim the time period for removing inactive voters from eight years to six years.
Kersey reminded them that when a voter is inactive for four years, which would include not voting and not renewing a driver’s license among other things, the county clerk must send out a confirmation postcard to the voter.
If the card isn’t returned the person goes on inactive status, and after two more federal election cycles of inactivity – another four years – the clerk would then purge that voter from the rolls.
The bill would shorten the period the clerk has to wait to send out the confirmation notice to two years. That would shorten the entire span from eight years to six.
He reminded the clerks the bill aligns with an Ohio law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
And his office supports it. “We welcome the opportunity.”
SB 622 passed the state Senate unanimously but never saw a House committee agenda.
Email: dbeard@dominionpost.com
