With the Nov. 5 general election less than a month away and early voting now under way, third-party groups appear to be trying to bog down county boards of elections with requests to systematically remove thousands from voter rolls. In Ohio, the state chapters of Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, represented by the ACLU and the Brennan Center for Justice, are alerting Secretary of State Frank LaRose to what the groups say are the illegal systematic removal of voters from the rolls in Delaware, Muskingum, probably Logan and possibly Cuyahoga counties. The groups cite public records, including minutes of county election board meetings, voter challenge materials and other communications as evidence there have been mass removals.

The National Voter Registration Act prohibits the systematic removal of names from voter rolls 90 days before a federal election.

And, according to the advocacy groups, the U.S. Department of Justice has issued guidance making it clear a person can be removed for change of residency only if the voter submits a written address change, or if a flagged registration has met all federal notice and waiting period requirements.

But mass voter registration challenges by third-party groups that appear to be trying to sow confusion and doubt to make it easier to challenge the results of the general election (if they want to) are happening all over the country, anyway. Michigan’s Secretary of State has ordered the reinstatement of approximately 1,000 people who had been purged from the rolls in Detroit, and the U.S. Justice Department has sued Alabama’s top election official, saying that state illegally purged rolls too close to the election.

For his part, LaRose’s office says he has already cast the tie vote last week against sustaining most of the Delaware County registration challenges. Surely, then, he will waste no time investigating the claims made regarding the other counties. Ensuring every eligible voter is able to make their voice heard is too important to risk on political games.