Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-980_f2q3.pdf
Page Number: 32

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

5 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

subsection (d). 

4 
  Subsection (d) sets forth the final procedure, which Ohio 
refers to  as  the “Confirmation  Procedure.”    Brief  for  Peti-
tioner  7.    The  statute  makes  clear  that  a  State  must  use 
the  Confirmation  Procedure  to  “confirm”  a  change  of  ad-
dress  in  respect  to  any  registered  voter  it  initially  identi-
fies  as  someone  who  has  likely  changed  addresses.    It 
works as follows: the State must send the registrant iden-
tified  as  having  likely  moved  a  special  kind  of  notice  by 
forwardable  mail.    That  notice  must  warn  the  registrant 
that  his  or  her  name  will  be  removed  from  the  voter  roll 
unless the registrant either returns an attached card and 
confirms his or her current address in writing or votes in 
an election during the period covering the next two federal 
elections.  In a sense, the notice a State is required to send 
as  part  of  the  Confirmation  Procedure  gives  registered 
voters whom the State has identified as likely ineligible a 
“last chance” to correct the record before being removed from 
the federal registration list.  The Confirmation Procedure is 
mandatory  for  all  change-of-residence  removals,  regard-
less of the method the State uses to make its initial identi-
fication of registrants whose addresses may have changed.  
In particular, subsection (d) says: 

  “A  State shall  not  remove  the  name of  a registrant 
from  the  official  list  of  eligible  voters  . . .  on  the 
ground that the registrant has changed residence un-
less the registrant [either]— 
  “(A)  confirms  in  writing  that  the  registrant  has 
changed residence to a place outside the registrar’s ju-
risdiction in which the registrant is registered; or 
  “(B)(i) has failed to respond to a notice described in 
[subsection  (d)(2)];  and (ii)  has  not  voted  [in  two sub-
sequent federal elections].”  §20507(d)(1).