INVESTIGATION: Hundreds of Non-Citizens Registered to Vote in Ohio

28 Feb, 2017 by Cassy Fiano

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The words “voter fraud” have been used very frequently over the past few months. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have made allegations of illegal voting in various states around the country, yet only Trump has been mocked and derided for that in the media. Does this new information back Trump up?

(Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has announced that his office has discovered that hundreds of non-citizens are registered to vote in Ohio. They found a total of 821 non-citizens, specifically, who had been registered since 2011, and at least 126 of them had actually voted.

“In light of the national discussion about illegal voting it is important to inform our discussions with facts,” Husted said. “The fact is voter fraud happens, it is rare and when it happens, we hold people accountable.” This is the third time his office has conducted a review of Ohio’s Statewide Registered Voter Database (SWRVD) and it was the third try that revealed the hundreds of illegally registered voters.

The non-citizens who voted have been referred to law enforcement for possible investigation and prosecution. The non-citizens who are registered, but did not vote, will be given instructions in the mail to cancel their registration. If they don’t comply with the first set of instructions, then they will be sent a second reminder; after that, they could likewise be referred to law enforcement as well.

“I have a responsibility to preserve the integrity of Ohio’s elections system,” Secretary Husted said. “When you consider that in Ohio we have had 112 elections decided by one vote or tied in the last three years, every case of illegal voting must be taken seriously, and elections officials must have every resource available to them to respond accordingly.”

How many other states have similar issues that have yet to be uncovered? How many other hundreds or thousands of non-citizens are registered to vote around the country? And why are so few politicians concerned about it?

Cassy Fiano

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