Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced his office has identified more than a thousand noncitizens who appear to have registered to vote, and those findings have been sent to federal prosecutors as part of an ongoing push to secure the state’s elections. The referrals, along with hundreds of other alleged irregularities and a large purge of inactive registrations, are being presented as proof that aggressive enforcement matters heading into upcoming elections.
LaRose’s team reported 1,084 cases of individuals who “appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio,” and he has forwarded those files to the Department of Justice for review. Of those, 167 are listed as having apparently cast ballots in federal elections since 2018, which is the kind of detail that makes this more than a paperwork exercise.
“Ohio has earned its reputation as the Gold Standard, and our Election Integrity Unit continues to prove why,” LaRose said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We work tirelessly to ensure that every eligible voter’s voice is heard, and anyone who tries to cheat the system will face serious consequences.”
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Beyond the noncitizen referrals, LaRose’s office flagged a variety of other voting anomalies that raise red flags about the accuracy of rolls and the potential for fraud. The report cites 99 people who appear to have voted in two different states in the same federal election and 16 who appear to have cast two ballots in Ohio during the same federal contest.
The audit also identified 14 instances where a ballot appears to have been cast after the voter’s recorded date of death, four possible cases of ballot harvesting, and two registrations linked to unlawful residences. Those specific counts are the sort of hard numbers that officials can use when asking federal prosecutors to take action.
LaRose has made it clear that this is a continuing push, not a one-off sweep, and his office has pursued referrals before. In the months leading up to prior elections, his team forwarded hundreds of alleged noncitizen voters to the DOJ and removed more than 155,000 registrations that were confirmed abandoned or inactive for at least four consecutive years.
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The office’s audit leaned on a range of government databases and cross-checks to build its cases, including motor vehicle records, the Department of Homeland Security’s verification system, Social Security Administration files, federal jury pool data and other sources. Those cross-references are what allowed staff to isolate registrations that merited deeper investigation.
LaRose has even sued the federal administration in an effort to secure data he says his office needs to spot and stop wrongful registrations, arguing that federal cooperation is essential for state election integrity. That legal push underscores a broader Republican point: states must be empowered and supported to protect the franchise from abuse.
With the 2024 cycle approaching, LaRose’s referrals put pressure on federal prosecutors to act and signal to voters that the state is taking registration accuracy seriously. Whether the DOJ pursues charges or not, the public message is clear — election officials who find irregularities will push them up the chain and demand consequences when warranted.
