Screenshot: WKYC Channel 3
A Clinton-appointed federal judge on Tuesday blocked Ohio from requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship from residents registering to vote through the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles, handing a major victory to Democrat-aligned election attorneys just weeks before the 2026 midterm voter-registration deadline.
Senior U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. issued a preliminary injunction against the citizenship-verification provision in Ohio House Bill 54.
The ruling applies immediately unless it is stayed or overturned on appeal.
Oliver was nominated to the federal bench by former President Bill Clinton in 1994. He assumed senior status in 2021, according to the Federal Judicial Center.
House Bill 54 amended Ohio law to require applicants registering or updating their voter registration during a BMV transaction to provide proof of citizenship, or to have previously supplied that documentation to the agency.
The requirement could be satisfied with records such as a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization certificate. Ohio’s official statute took effect in June 2025.
Apparently, requiring proof that a person is legally eligible to vote was too much for the federal court.
Oliver ruled that Ohio’s BMV process likely violates the National Voter Registration Act on two grounds.
First, the judge concluded that the state could not condition the offer to register on whether an applicant successfully obtained a driver’s license.
Oliver wrote that Ohio had made voter registration dependent upon the success of the license application and declared that the “sequencing is not what Congress intended.”
Second, Oliver ruled that documentary proof of citizenship exceeded the information Ohio needed to determine eligibility. According to the judge, a signed statement claiming U.S. citizenship is sufficient.
In other words, the federal court has ordered Ohio to return to an honor system for citizenship verification at the BMV.
The injunction covers first-time applicants and people renewing their licenses. It also requires the state to offer voter registration to applicants who are denied a license because they failed to produce the necessary documents.
The order does not cover individuals who identify themselves as noncitizens on BMV forms. Noncitizens also remain legally prohibited from registering or voting. The ruling eliminates the documentary verification requirement; it does not change the underlying citizenship qualification.
The lawsuit, Red Wine & Blue v. LaRose, was filed by Red Wine & Blue and the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans. The plaintiffs are represented by the Elias Law Group, the election-law firm founded by Democrat operative Marc Elias.
Elias Law Group celebrated the ruling and called Ohio’s citizenship requirement “unnecessary paperwork.” The firm said the injunction would allow applicants to register without producing documents that it claims are not required under federal law. Ohio’s registration deadline for the November 3 election is October 5. Read the firm’s statement here.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose previously defended the law, saying, “It’s common sense that only U.S. citizens should be on our voter rolls.”
LaRose also vowed that he would not apologize for protecting the integrity of Ohio’s voter-registration system, according to Reuters.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office had not announced whether it would appeal the preliminary injunction as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Gateway Pundit has extensively reported on the nationwide battle over proof of citizenship and voter identification.
As previously reported, the Ohio Senate passed a proposed constitutional amendment intended to protect the state’s voter-identification laws from being dismantled by a future Democrat-controlled legislature.
The Gateway Pundit also recently reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has told Republican voters to make the SAVE America Act a campaign issue rather than delivering the votes necessary to pass nationwide citizenship-verification and voter-ID requirements.
Now, with the November midterms rapidly approaching, one unelected Clinton appointee has stripped away Ohio’s documentary citizenship check at one of the state’s largest voter-registration access points.
Ohio officials must immediately appeal this outrageous ruling and seek an emergency stay. American elections should be decided by American citizens, and asking people to prove their eligibility should not be controversial.
The post OUTRAGE: Clinton-Appointed Activist Judge Blocks Ohio’s Proof-of-Citizenship Requirement at BMV Just Weeks Before 2026 Midterms appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
