(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) On Aug. 21, 2024, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced that he had referred evidence of nearly 600 noncitizen voters to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office for possible prosecution, with some of those voters already casting ballots in Ohio.
“I’m duty-bound to make sure people who haven’t yet earned citizenship in this country do not vote in our elections. We’ve so far identified 597 individuals who’ve registered to vote in Ohio despite not being citizens of the United States, as our state constitution requires,” LaRose said in a press release.
Post Millennial reported that he then added that 138 noncitizens had already voted.
“The evidence includes 138 individuals who appear to have cast a ballot in an Ohio election during the time state and federal records show they lacked citizenship status. The law requires me to refer these individuals to the attorney general, and that’s what we’re doing today,” LaRose said.
Earlier this year, LaRose launched an audit of Ohio’s voter registration database, removing 15,995 registrations confirmed inactive or abandoned for at least four consecutive years.
The news source added that LaRose also undertook the “most extensive citizenship verification audit ever conducted by the Ohio Secretary of State’s office,” which included cross-checking with records provided by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security’s federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, federal jury pool data and other resources.
LaRose’s office said the investigation into voters’ citizenship status remains ongoing, and additional removals may occur before the 2024 election. Under state law, the secretary of state can “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.”
Alabama and Texas were among other states that found noncitizens on their voter rolls.
