Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-980_f2q3.pdf
Page Number: 20.0

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

17 

Opinion of the Court 

removes  registrants  for  other  reasons,  namely,  for  failing 
to respond to a notice and failing to vote. 
  This  argument  plainly  fails.    Ohio  simply  treats  the 
failure  to  return  a  notice  and  the  failure  to  vote  as  evi-
dence  that  a  registrant  has  moved,  not  as  a  ground  for 
removal.    And  in  doing  this,  Ohio  simply  follows  federal 
law.    Subsection  (d),  which  governs  removals  “on  the 
ground  that the registrant  has  changed  residence,”  treats 
the  failure  to  return  a  notice  and  the  failure  to  vote  as 
evidence that this ground is satisfied.  §20507(d)(1). 
  If  respondents’  argument  were  correct,  then  it  would 
also be illegal to remove a name under §20507(c) because 
that  would  constitute  removal  for  submitting  change-of-
address  information  to  the  Postal  Service.    Likewise,  if  a 
State removed a name after receiving a death certificate or 
a  judgment  of  criminal  conviction,  that  would  be  illegal 
because  receipt  of  such  documents  is  not  listed  as  a 
permitted  ground  for  removal  under  §20507(a)(3)  or 
§20507(a)(4).  About this argument no more need be said. 

B 
  Respondents  maintain,  finally,  that  Ohio’s  procedure  is 
illegal because the State sends out notices without having 
any  “reliable  indicator”  that  the  addressee  has  moved.  
Brief for Respondents 31.  The “[f]ailure to vote for a mere 
two-year  period,”  they  argue,  does  not  reliably  “indicate 
that a registrant has moved out of the jurisdiction.”  Id., at 
30;  see  also,  e.g.,  Brief  for  State  of  New  York  et al.  as 
Amici Curiae 13–28. 
  This  argument  also  fails.    The  degree  of  correlation 
between  the failure  to vote  for  two  years  and a  change  of 
residence  is  debatable,  but  we  know  from  subsection  (d) 
that Congress thought that the failure to vote for a period 

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tional  authority  to  limit  voting  eligibility  requirements  in  the  way 
respondents suggest.