COLUMBUS, Ohio — Six people were recently indicted for illegal voting in past elections, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced during a Tuesday press conference.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent 597 voter cases to Yost’s office in August involving election integrity. Of those referrals, 138 were cases where someone had voted improperly.
Yost said the bulk of the cases are not within the office’s authority to bring a criminal prosecution. Most of the cases were brought up due to improper registration.
Yost said what is common in the cases of those indicted this week was that the person was a lawful and permanent resident but was not a United States citizen and was not allowed to vote.
“If you’re not a citizen, it is illegal to vote. Whether you thought you were allowed to or not,” Yost said.
Illegal voting is a fourth-degree felony.
There was a seventh case against a student at Oberlin that the grand jury declined to indict. Yost said the student had voted in the state of Washington and in Ohio in 2018.
Those indicted on one or more counts of illegal voting include one person in Cuyahoga County, one in Summit County and one in Portage County. The other three all live in Franklin County. Their ages range from 32 to 78.
“Irregularities like this are rare, and this is a small number of cases,” Yost said. “We should all be confident in the upcoming election, knowing that the laws are being enforced and will continue to be enforced.”