Ohio Gov. DeWine signed transportation-budget rider requiring BMV proof of citizenship to register to vote

On March 31, 2025, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 54, the state's roughly $11 billion two-year transportation budget, without vetoing a Senate-added provision requiring Bureau of Motor Vehicles applicants to show documented proof of U.S. citizenship before BMV staff may offer them the opportunity to register to vote. House Republicans had originally written the documentary-proof requirement into the bill, then dropped it in a floor compromise with Democrats that instead barred BMV employees from offering registration forms to people already known to be ineligible; the Senate restored the stricter documentary-proof language, and it survived into the final bill DeWine signed at the March 31 deadline.

Acceptable documents under the provision include a U.S. birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate, or driver's license. The requirement applies only to in-person registration at BMV offices; Ohioans registering by mail, online, or in person anywhere else continue to satisfy the citizenship requirement, as they always have, by attesting under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens. BMV offices account for a large share of Ohio's voter registrations because residents are routinely offered the chance to register when applying for or renewing a driver's license or state ID.

DeWine had said before signing that he needed to be persuaded before signing any further election-related legislation and stopped short of threatening a veto, but issued no vetoes on House Bill 54. The citizenship-documentation requirement took effect roughly three months later, in June 2025.

Updates

2025-08-26 — Voting-rights groups sued over the BMV citizenship requirement [5]

Red Wine & Blue and the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans sued Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Registrar of Motor Vehicles Charles Norman in federal court, arguing the documentary- proof requirement conflicts with the National Voter Registration Act, which the groups said entitles registrants to satisfy citizenship requirements through a sworn attestation alone.

2026-08-25 — Federal judge blocked the requirement [6]

U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. granted a preliminary injunction suspending the BMV citizenship-documentation requirement, ruling it preempted by the National Voter Registration Act's requirement that states demand only the minimum information necessary to assess voter eligibility. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said his office would appeal.