A Clinton-appointed federal judge blocked Ohio from enforcing a law requiring documentary proof of citizenship before certain residents could be offered voter registration at Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices. The preliminary injunction suspends the requirement as Ohio approaches its October 5th registration deadline for the November midterm elections. Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. ruled that the provision likely conflicts with federal law. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose immediately announced plans to appeal.
Oliver issued the ruling Tuesday, August 25th, in a lawsuit filed by Red Wine & Blue and the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans. The groups are represented by the Elias Law Group, which frequently represents the Democratic Party in court. Their lawsuit challenged a provision added to Ohio’s Motor Voter statute through House Bill 54, a transportation budget signed by Republican Governor Mike DeWine in 2025.
The disputed provision required a BMV customer to present proof of U.S. citizenship, or to have previously presented that proof, before the registrar was required to offer electronic voter registration during a license or identification card transaction. Acceptable documents might include a birth certificate, passport or naturalization certificate. The requirement applied specifically to the BMV’s affirmative offer of voter registration rather than every method available for registering in Ohio.
As Reuters reported, Oliver concluded that a signed statement affirming U.S. citizenship was sufficient for Ohio election officials to evaluate an applicant’s eligibility. The judge was appointed to the federal bench by former President Bill Clinton. Ben Stafford, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, called the additional citizenship paperwork unnecessary and said eligible residents could now register at the BMV without producing it.
Oliver’s 54-page order relied on the National Voter Registration Act, the 1993 federal law commonly known as the Motor Voter Act. That law says the voter registration portion of a driver’s license application may require only the minimum information necessary to determine eligibility and prevent duplicate voter registrations. Oliver wrote that Ohio’s documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement “is more than the signed attestation to U.S. citizenship that Ohio’s other voter registration methods accept.”
The order prevents BMV officials from demanding citizenship documents before offering registration to a driver’s license applicant, including an applicant who fails to obtain a license because of missing paperwork. It does not require officials to offer registration to someone whose application identifies that person as a noncitizen or otherwise establishes ineligibility. Oliver also emphasized that BMV employees do not make the final registration decision; that responsibility remains with state election officials.
LaRose sharply criticized the decision and asked the state’s legal team to file an immediate appeal. “Under this order, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles would be required to offer a voter registration form to a person who’s applying for a driver’s license, even if that person can’t verify that they’re a citizen,” LaRose said in an official statement. “We strongly disagree with that decision, and I’ve asked our legal team to file an immediate appeal.”
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LaRose pointed to a Franklin County case involving a lawful permanent resident who voted in 2018 after a BMV clerk allegedly led her to believe she could register. The woman admitted that she was not a citizen but was found not guilty by reason of entrapment, according to the secretary’s office. “The Franklin County case proves it’s not enough to just have a person’s attestation,” LaRose said. “Ohio has a constitutional requirement to ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections.”
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