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The Ohio Secretary of State’s office referred 138 non-U.S. citizens who were found on registered voter rolls to the state’s attorney general on Thursday.
The move comes as part of a monthslong audit of the state’s voter rolls by Secretary Frank LaRose. Digital has previously reported on a purge of hundreds of other non-citizens from the state’s voter registration earlier this year.
“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. “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.
“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,” he added.
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Ohio may criminally prosecute 138 non-citizens who were found to have been on state voter rolls and casted a ballot in an election. (Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The 597 non-citizen cases include 148 from 2022, 117 in 2021 and 354 in 2019.
LaRose’ audit has also purged roughly 155,000 voter registrations that were confirmed to be abandoned and inactive for at least four consecutive years.
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The still-ongoing audit relies on analysis and cross-checks against records provided by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, the Social Security Administration, federal jury pool data, and other resources.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose initiated the largest audit of voter registration rolls in the state’s history.
“I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of our state, and that document clearly states that only United States citizens can participate in Ohio elections,” LaRose told Digital in a statement earlier this month. “That means I’m duty-bound to make sure people who haven’t yet earned citizenship in this country aren’t voting. If or when they do become citizens, I’ll be the first one to congratulate them and welcome them to the franchise, but until then the law requires us to remove ineligible registrations to prevent illegal voting.”
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Ohio has removed 155,000 voter registrations that were confirmed to be inactive. (Nic Antaya/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Ohio is one of several key swing states that are likely to sway the result of the 2024 election. Former President Trump has been loudly concerned about potential voter fraud.
