Over 500 noncitizens have been referred for prosecution this year for registering to vote or voting illegally
Nearly 600 noncitizens have been referred for prosecution by Ohio’s election chief after they registered to vote or cast a vote illegally.
Of the 597 who have been referred, 138 were found to have cast ballots and 459 had registered but not yet voted.
The individuals were identified as part of a routine review and referred to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
In 2022, 148 noncitizen cases were referred, with 117 in 2021 and 354 in 2019.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Frank LaRose launched a large-scale audit of the state’s voter registration database, which resulted in the removal of nearly 155,000 registrations that were found to have been abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years.
These verification efforts are the most comprehensive in the state’s history. They include cross-checks against records of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security’s federal database of noncitizens, and the Social Security Administration, and federal jury pool data and other resources.
LaRose recently appeared on the War Room with Benjamin Harnwell to discuss his efforts to eliminate voter fraud in Ohio in detail.
La Rose told Harnwell that “the process is much harder than it needs to be because of a lack of cooperation from the federal government. We’re using every resource we have, but it’s still not a full process that it could be.”
.@FrankLaRose Discusses Identifying AND Eliminating Illegal Alien Votes For This Upcoming Election pic.twitter.com/fWiehQDIA9
— BannonsWarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) August 22, 2024
Civil rights organizations have been vocal in denouncing the Ohio audit as voter suppression. LaRose said the effort is ongoing and additional registrations could yet be cancelled before November’s presidential election.
He told Harnwell, “We’re simply trying to establish who’s a citizen and who’s not because Ohio’s Constitution requires it, and federal law requires it.”
