An Ohio Capital Journal review of LaRose’s fraud referrals found just 18 charges.
Since taking office in early 2019, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has referred more than 640 cases of potential voter fraud to state or county investigators. Almost none of those incidents resulted in charges — much less convictions.
“Here they go again,” he began, arguing The Hill miscast his press release, “to falsely claim ‘there’s nothing to see here – move along.’ WRONG!” In a subsequent tweet he insisted those referrals were “ONLY THE BEGINNING.” But LaRose’s office doesn’t handle the investigations. Instead, they pass the information along to state officials at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation or directly to county prosecutors. What’s more, despite regularly announcing its referrals, LaRose’s office doesn’t follow up on what becomes of those cases.
To determine how many of LaRose’s referrals resulted in charges, Ohio Capital Journal requested information about voter fraud prosecutions since January 2019 in all 60 counties where a referral originated. As of Sept. 22, 55 counties have complied with that request. The 5 counties that have not make up 12 of the 641 incidents LaRose’s office identified.
LaRose didn’t agree to an interview request to discuss this project’s findings. Ohio Capital Journal also sent LaRose’s office a list of detailed questions. His team did not respond.The most highly publicized case of voter fraud came to a conclusion in Cuyahoga County last month. James Saunders was convicted of. The court’s findings indicate his pattern of casting ballots in Florida and Ohio may have been going on even longer. The judge sentenced him to three years in prison.
But the prosecutor cited two important mitigating factors. First, Simpson checked the box identifying himself as a noncitizen on his registration. Second, federal officials had suggested they’d deport Simpson — then 60 years old — if he was convicted of a felony.Anecdotally, prosecutors in Union County mentioned an incident in which a Canadian suspect allegedly voted illegally. Those charges were later dropped.
In Greene County, prosecutors reported one case but said the AG’s office was handling it. In Mahoning and Montgomery Counties, prosecutors reported filing charges that were later dropped.While clearly there are cases of voter fraud, Ohio Capital Journal’s review demonstrates they are nowhere near as common or as organized as election skeptics claim. Importantly, none of the incidents involved the kind of in-person fraud that Ohio’sare meant to stamp out.
At a campaign stop in Lima last November, he bragged about “referr 630 individuals who we caught committing what we believe is election fraud.” He added that he’d recently referred 75 cases of people “who we believe voted in Ohio and in another state.”
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