Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-980_f2q3.pdf
Page Number: 4

Cite as:  584 U. S. ____ (2018) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order 
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 16–980 
_________________ 

JON HUSTED, OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE, 
PETITIONER v. A. PHILIP RANDOLPH 
INSTITUTE, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT 

[June 11, 2018] 

  JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. 
  It has been estimated that 24 million voter registrations 
in  the  United  States—about  one  in  eight—are  either 
invalid  or  significantly  inaccurate.    Pew  Center  on  the 
States,  Election  Initiatives  Issue  Brief  (Feb.  2012).    And 
about 2.75 million people are said to be registered to vote 
in more than one State.  Ibid. 
  At issue in today’s case is an Ohio law that aims to keep 
the State’s voting lists up to date by removing the names 
of those who have moved out of the district where they are 
registered.  Ohio uses the failure to vote for two years as a 
rough way of identifying voters who may have moved, and 
it  then  sends  a  preaddressed,  postage  prepaid  card  to 
these  individuals  asking  them  to  verify  that  they  still 
reside at the same address.  Voters who do not return this 
card and fail to vote in any election for four more years are 
presumed  to  have  moved  and  are  removed  from  the rolls.  
We  are  asked  to  decide  whether  this  program  complies 
with federal law.