Ohio secretary of state sues Biden administration for 'obstructing' removal of non-citizen registered voters

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose sued President Biden's administration on Thursday, accusing officials of "obstruction and outright abuse of power."

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Southern District of Ohio, says the Department of Homeland Security refused on multiple occasions to grant access to federal records that are "necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting." LaRose's office has conducted a rolling audit of the state's voter rolls ahead of Election Day, and he has previously told Fox News Digital that state-level records can only take the process so far.

"I swore an oath to uphold our state constitution, and that document clearly requires that only United States citizens can participate in Ohio elections," LaRose said in a statement. "The Biden-Harris Administration is engaging in obstruction and outright abuse of power to prevent us from removing non-citizens from our voter rolls. I take my duty seriously, so if they want a fight over the integrity of our elections, they've got it."

The lawsuit claims there were four instances in which Ohio's requests for access to federal records were denied. Ohio's audit relies on analysis and cross-checks against records provided by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the DHS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, the Social Security Administration, federal jury pool data and other resources.

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While LaRose's office can access the SAVE database, states using it have to pay $1.50 for each query for records, and finding the information required to properly search the data is cumbersome, LaRose says.

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