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Recent news out of New Jersey should serve as a warning for election officials across the country.
A software error involving the state's Motor Vehicle Commission resulted in as many as 6,600 people being registered to vote despite indicating they were not U.S. citizens. The mistake underscores a basic reality of election administration: errors can happen, and states need safeguards in place to prevent them when possible and catch them when they do.
Ohio has done a good job of building those checks into its election system.
It starts with registration. Ohio uses an opt-in system that requires an applicant to affirm that he or she is a U.S. citizen. If an applicant indicates otherwise, the application cannot be processed as valid.
That may sound basic. It is also important. Ohio has additional checks involving state-issued identification. The state distinguishes between identification issued to citizens and identification reflecting noncitizen status, and election officials have specific guidance for driver licenses and identification cards carrying a "NONCITIZEN" designation.
At the same time, the rules recognize that government records are not always updated immediately.
Someone who recently became a U.S. citizen, for example, may still have identification reflecting his or her previous status. Ohio provides a process for those citizens to establish their eligibility with appropriate documentation.
That balance matters. Election integrity should never mean preventing an eligible citizen from voting. It should mean having clear rules that protect eligible voters while giving election officials the tools to identify records that deserve a closer look.
Ohio also regularly reviews its voter rolls using government data, including information from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE system. When information raises a question about a voter's citizenship status, election officials can investigate while providing notice and an opportunity to correct inaccurate or outdated records.
The same principle extends to Election Day. Ohio requires qualifying photo identification for in-person voting, and this November, voters will be asked if they want to enshrine that law into the Ohio Constitution. New Jersey generally does not have a comparable statewide photo-ID requirement.
No single one of these policies can guarantee that an administrative mistake will never occur. That is precisely the point. Election security should not depend on any single safeguard. Citizenship attestation matters. Accurate government records matter. Voter-list maintenance matters. Identification at the polls matters. And fair procedures for correcting mistakes matter.
The recent court fight over Ohio's citizenship-verification law should not obscure that broader principle.
Whatever the ultimate legal outcome, the goal should remain straightforward: every eligible Ohioan should be able to vote easily, and every ineligible registration should be caught.
That is the balance Ohio's multi-layered system is designed to achieve.
We come to this issue from different political backgrounds. One of us is a former Republican Ohio Secretary of State. The other is a former Democratic member of Congress. Our work together through the Democracy Defense Foundation is based on a simple belief: Americans should not have to choose between access to the ballot and confidence in the integrity of our elections. We can and should insist on both.
At a time when confidence in our elections remains too fragile, election officials should continue looking for practical ways to make the system more accurate, transparent and secure. When states get something right, those practices should be recognized and, where appropriate, studied by others.
On that score, Ohio has provided a strong example.
Republican Ken Blackwell is a former Ohio Secretary of State and a board member of the Democracy Defense Foundation. Zack Space, a Democrat, is a former U.S. representative from Ohio and a board member of the Democracy Defense Foundation.