An investigation into election integrity by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R)’s office allegedly found non-citizens registered to vote, and double voters for potential prosecution across eight states.
“We must send a clear message that election fraud won’t be tolerated. The only way to maintain Ohio’s high standard of election integrity is to enforce the law whenever it’s broken,” LaRose told Fox News.
Ohio’s Election Integrity Unit reportedly found evidence of 30 non-citizens registered to vote in the state by reviewing Ohio’s registration database and comparing it with federal and state data.
Additionally, LaRose’s office discovered 11 individuals from Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, and Washington, DC, who appeared to have voted in multiple jurisdictions.
The Ohio Secretary of State wrote letters to the attorneys general of all states in which evidence was found and referred those involved for prosecution.
In a letter to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, LaRose said, “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.”
LaRose went on to stress the importance of rooting out attempts of fraudulent voting, noting that every vote counts, and just one illegal vote can ruin the outcome of an election.
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“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,” the Ohio Secretary of State wrote.
“Just this last election, a single vote in Licking County decided the outcome of a local levy after the final certified count,” LaRose asserted.
Notably, Ohio’s probe into election integrity and referring alleged fraudulent voters for prosecution arrives on the heels of President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice suing the State of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Board of Elections for allegedly failing to maintain an accurate voter list.
North Carolina is accused of violating the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) via board officials supplying a statewide voter registration form that failed to clarify whether an applicant needs to provide a driver’s license number.
The lawsuit also claims the voter registration form in North Carolina failed to specify if the applicant does not have a driver’s license, as well as provide the last four digits of the applicant’s social security number.
If these stipulations are not met, then the state must assign a special identifying number, according to North Carolina law.
A “significant number” of North Carolina voters who did not fill out voter registration forms in compliance with HAVA were “nonetheless registered by their election officials,” the lawsuit alleges.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram
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