LaRose refers election fraud cases for prosecution

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced today that he is formally referring evidence of potential fraudulent noncitizen registrations and fraudulent double-votes to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Attorneys General of seven states and the District of Columbia for further review and potential prosecution.

During an ongoing review of the Ohio Voter Registration Database using state and federal data, evidence of thirty noncitizen registrations were uncovered by Election Integrity Unit investigators. In addition, the review found eleven individuals from Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, and South Carolina who appear to have voted in multiple jurisdictions.

“We must send a clear message that election fraud won’t be tolerated,” said Secretary LaRose. “The only way to maintain Ohio’s high standard of election integrity is to enforce the law whenever it’s broken. Through the investigations of our Public Integrity Division’s Election Integrity Unit, we are rooting out lawbreakers so we can bring accountability and justice.”

To better fulfill these statutory duties, LaRose announced the creation of the office’s first-ever Public Integrity Division in 2022 as part of an ongoing effort to build on Ohio’s record as a national leader in election administration. The division consolidates many of the office’s longstanding investigative functions, including campaign finance reporting, voting system certification, voter registration integrity, the investigation of election law violations, data retention & transparency, and cybersecurity protocols. The Ohio General Assembly is currently considering legislation to make the division’s Election Integrity Unit a permanent function of the office.

Ohio law empowers the Secretary of State to “investigate the administration of election laws, frauds, and irregularities in elections in any county, and report violations of election laws to the attorney general or prosecuting attorney, or both, for prosecution.” The Secretary of State’s office has referred hundreds of these matters to county prosecutors since Secretary LaRose took office in 2019.

“Critics of Ohio’s election integrity efforts may try to minimize the significance of these referrals, as though some small amount of election crime is acceptable,” Secretary LaRose wrote in a letter to Attorney General Yost. 

“Even one illegal vote can spoil the outcome of an election for the citizenry at large, whether it be a school levy, majority control of a legislative chamber, or even a statewide election contest. Just this last election, a single vote in Licking County decided the outcome of a local levy after the final certified count.”
 
Secretary LaRose concludes, “If we intend to give Ohioans absolute confidence in the integrity of our elections, we must have zero tolerance for misconduct.”