The Senate General Government Committee adopted a substitute to Senate Bill 153, which creates a front‑end citizenship verification process for voter registrations and changes several voter‑roll maintenance procedures.

Vice Chair Gavarone moved to adopt the substitute and explained the changes, saying the substitute aligns allowable proof of citizenship with Bureau of Motor Vehicles documents, disallows expired Ohio driver’s licenses or IDs and certain out‑of‑state IDs, and permits an applicant whose replacement certificate of naturalization or citizenship is pending to submit an I‑797 notice of action. She described the measure as creating “a front end check of citizenship” while delaying implementation for 18 months to allow systems and processes to be established.

The substitute requires the Secretary of State to consult BMV and SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) databases to verify U.S. citizenship, directs the Secretary to refer suspected noncitizen registrations to an election integrity unit rather than the Attorney General, and orders periodic reviews of registrations — monthly in general and daily during the 46 days before an election. When the Secretary verifies citizenship, a board of elections must record that verification and remove provisional status; if verification is inconclusive, the board must send a confirmation notice and allow a four‑day cure period after the election for the voter to provide proof.

The substitute also revises procedures for handling data mismatches, requires boards to cancel registrations found to be fictitious or duplicate and to notify electors in writing (with restoration if the cancellation was in error), expands data‑sharing (including death records from SSA and state exchanges), and modifies petition and paid‑circulator rules. The committee adopted the substitute without objection, concluding the fifth hearing on SB 153.

Committee members recorded no additional floor votes on the substitute during the meeting; the chair announced the hearing’s conclusion and moved on to the next agenda item.