"Voting rights groups want the state to pause the removals, noting that thousands of eligible voters are at risk of having their voter registrations canceled.The fight in Ohio underscores how mass voter removals ―voter purges ― are now a major frontier in battles over voter suppression in the United States. At least 17 million people have had their voter registrations canceled since the 2016 election, according to one study by the Brennan Center for Justice (it’s unclear how many of those cancellations were legitimate). Ohio has already canceled 265,000 voter registrations this year. Federal law requires states to have a general, nondiscriminatory program to remove ineligible voters from their rolls. The law also states that registrants can’t be removed “solely” because they haven’t voted. Any Ohioan erroneously removed from the rolls can register to vote until Oct. 7, 2019."