COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said he is moving forward to investigate what they are calling voter fraud after his team claims to have evidence of non-citizen voter registration in the state.
LaRose said 138 individuals have appeared to vote in an Ohio election without citizenship status.
10TV spoke to an Otterbein professor who was offended by the language in a letter he received from the secretary of state's office, questioning his citizenship.
Nicholas Ross has lived in the United States for 28 years. He came to the U.S. on a student scholar visa, met his wife in the U.S. and got married in 2000.
Since then, Ross has had a green card. This year, he decided it was time to get his U.S. citizenship.
“I have two sons. I thought well, I’m staying in the U.S., it’s been long on my mind to become a U.S. citizen. Voting matters to me, so I decided it was time,” said Ross.
At Ross’s naturalization ceremony in May, he registered to vote.
“I wanted to stay in this country. I’m retiring in this country. My wife and kids are U.S. citizens. I felt voting is important and being more engaged in that way,” he said.
In July, he got a letter from LaRose’s office about his voter registration.
“I received this letter three weeks after becoming a U.S. citizen saying I had been flagged for suspicious, my voter registration was viewed as suspicious and that it’s a crime. It said I may be referred for prosecution,” said Ross.
Ross sent the letter back to LaRose’s office immediately to verify his citizenship.
“No U.S. citizen wants to receive a letter that says we think you may have broken the law, you may be facing prosecution. When you know you have done everything, completely correctly,” said Ross.
Ross is able to vote but did not immediately update his license at the BMV showing his citizenship status. That is why the secretary of state’s office flagged his voter registration.
On Wednesday, 10TV brought Ross’s concerns to LaRose.
10TV told him Ross’s story and that explained how he felt offended by the language in the letter, threatening or suggesting jail time.
“First of all, we don’t want to offend anyone. But I will carry out my duty and if someone has delicate sensitivity, I have to do my job as the Ohio Secretary of State,” said LaRose.
LaRose said he supports legislation called the Save Act that would streamline the citizenship verification process.
“As the state elections official, I need to be able to get that data from the federal government and they make it enormously hard. This is, by the way, why I'm a big supporter of a piece of legislation called the Save Act that was introduced by Chip Roy from Texas that would greatly streamline the citizenship verification process. Right now it's like pulling teeth to get the federal government to give us this data, and the last thing I want to do is inconvenience or offend or upset the sensitivities of any individual that I have to send a letter to,” said LaRose.
Ultimately, Ross will get to vote in the November election; something he said he is looking forward to.
“I’m really excited to vote actually. My family will tell you that I have strong opinions about politics. So I do care, and I want to have a voice,” said Ross.
The deadline to register to vote in Ohio is on Oct. 7. Click here to register to vote.