Common Cause members and other voting rights activists gathered for a rally outside the Supreme Court this morning as the justices heard a landmark challenge to an Ohio law that state officials have used to lift the registrations of about 2 million voters.

Speakers for the 9:30 a.m. event included Joseph Helle, the Mayor of Oak Harbor, OH, who was purged from the voter rolls after he missed an election while serving with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Democracy reform leaders including Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn also were on the program.

You can watch Karen’s remarks here:

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted wants the high court’s blessing for a purging program that gives non-voters only one warning — and makes no effort to verify if it was received — before initiating a process to to remove them from the rolls. When a voter misses an election, Husted’s office sends a “confirmation letter” to his/her address to verify their residence. If the voter doesn’t return the letter and doesn’t vote for the next four years, he/she is purged.

The plaintiffs and their supporters, including Common Cause, contend the Ohio’s policy violates the National Voter Registration Act.