Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Wednesday that he has formally referred evidence of noncitizen voter registrations to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost for further review and potential prosecution as a result of his office’s ongoing effort to strengthen election integrity ahead of the November 5 general election.
“I’m duty-bound to make sure people who haven’t yet earned citizenship in this country do not vote in our elections,” LaRose said in a statement.
It is my sworn-duty to ensure only U.S. citizens vote in Ohio’s elections.
Following the most extensive citizenship verification audit ever conducted, our Public Integrity Division has now formally referred evidence of non-citizen voter registrations to the Ohio AG for…
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) August 21, 2024
LaRose said his office identified 597 noncitizens who registered to vote in Ohio, including 138 who cast a ballot in an Ohio election during the time records show they lacked citizenship status.
The citizenship statuses of the individuals identified by the secretary of state’s office were confirmed by records provided by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, the Social Security Administration, federal jury pool data, and other resources.
“The law requires me to refer these individuals to the attorney general, and that’s what we’re doing today,” LaRose added.
LaRose’s reporting of violations of election laws by noncitizens to the attorney general comes weeks after his office directed county board of elections to remove 499 noncitizen registrations from the state’s voter rolls, as previously reported by The Ohio Star.
“[I]nvestigations into the citizenship status of voter registration records remain ongoing and additional removals may be ordered ahead of the November general election,” LaRose’s office said.
Aside from noncitizen registrations, LaRose’s office maintains the state’s voter rolls by ordering the removal of 154,995 voter registrations confirmed to be abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years.
Ohio currently ranks 13th in the nation in maintaining the most secure elections, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Frank LaRose” by Frank LaRose. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
