(The Center Square) – Ongoing voter registration examinations throughout Ohio turned up more evidence that 78 noncitizens are registered to vote and nine who may have cast votes, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Those numbers are part of more than 8 million registered voters in the state and the 5.9 million who voted in the 2024 general election.
“My office has a zero-tolerance policy for election crime in Ohio, and I’m hopeful that our prosecutors will as well,” LaRose said. “Even one illegal vote can spoil the outcome of an election, which is why we established the first-ever Election Integrity Unit in this state to root out lawbreakers and demand accountability and justice.”
LaRose said he referred additional evidence of the most recent discoveries to Attorney General Dave Yost for prosecution.
Since 2019, LaRose has sent more than 600 potential election fraud crimes to state prosecutors. After only 12 got action from local prosecutors, LaRose asked Yost for help in November.
“We respect prosecutorial discretion, and we don’t necessarily expect all 633 referrals to lead to criminal charges, but only 12 out of 633 shows a second set of eyes might be needed here to determine whether prosecution of these crimes is justified,” Hun Yi, director of Investigations for the Secretary of State’s Public Integrity Division, wrote at the time in a letter to Attorney General Dave Yost.
Out of 140 people sent to Yost to prosecute, only seven were presented to a grand jury, which returned an indictment on six of those.
Illegal voting is a fourth-degree felony. The penalty is up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Yost called voting fraud rare.
“Irregularities like this are rare, and this is a small number of cases,” Yost said when the indictments were issued. “We should all be confident in the upcoming election, knowing that the laws are being enforced and will continue to be enforced.”
