COLUMBUS — A non-citizen in Ashland County faces possible prosecution after illegally registering to vote in the 2020 election cycle, according to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Ashland’s case is one of 117 LaRose recently turned over to the state attorney general for possible felony prosecution. Of the 117, 104 were illegally registered and 13 actually cast illegal ballots that were ultimately counted.
The person in Ashland County did not cast a ballot.
Franklin County leads the state in potential voter fraud cases LaRose’s office has referred to the state attorney general. There are 32 cases in Franklin county that involve illegal registrations and eight who actually cast ballots there.
The 13 illegal ballots were counted, LaRose said during a press conference earlier this week. The ballots account for .00016% of all votes cast in 2020, or around 1-in-every-600,000.
Though voter fraud in Ohio is rare, LaRose said, one is still too many.
“The bottom line is this: citizenship matters,” LaRose said. “It’s an important status and something we should all treasure. And with that, comes the ability to be a voter.”
The first step of the investigation lies with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. He can then refer cases to county prosecutors.
LaRose, a Republican, admonished county prosecutors to take the voter fraud cases seriously should they be referred by the attorney general.
“Ohioans need to know that we run an honest election and that we keep election fraud rare by prosecuting it when it occurs,” he said.
Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell said Yost’s office has not referred the case to him yet, but that he would take it seriously should it come.
Tunnell said he has been referred two voter fraud cases since 2014. One of them was not charged because his office found the woman had made a mistake on her address when registering.
The other case, Tunnell said, ended with the conviction of Mark Owens Sr. for illegal voting, using his child’s name. Owens, 54, of Ashland was sentenced in May to probation, court records show.
Owens’ case represents other cases of voter fraud across Ohio during the 2020 election cycle. But, LaRose said, it is still rare.
Edward Snodgrass, a Republican trustee of Porter Township in Delaware County, illegally cast an absentee ballot using his deceased father’s name. He was sentenced to three days in jail and a $500 fine.
