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Despite repeated attempts by others to instill fear that Ohio's elections are riddled with fraud, interference and illegal ballots cast, the public official best equipped to accurately assess the situation, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, has said, "voter fraud is rare in Ohio."
An analysis of data from the Ohio Crime Statistics Dashboard by the Ohio Capital Journal bears that out. Since taking office in 2019, LaRose has referred for investigation 1,200 voting/election-related cases. According to the crime statistics dashboard, only 16 resulted in felony convictions -- nine for illegally voting and seven for illegally registering to vote.
That's it. Across the whole state, over nearly seven years, there have been 16 felony convictions amid the tens of millions of ballots cast during the same time frame.
For those of you wondering about the misdemeanors, the Capital Journal broke down one year -- 2023 -- during which there were 641 referrals, from which only 18 resulted in charges. Of those 18, only 13 resulted in convictions, most of which were pleaded down to misdemeanors. That doesn't do much to swell the numbers or confirm the fear-based social media narrative regarding voter and election fraud.
Back in 2021, LaRose rightly pointed out "One of the reasons it's rare is because we have good laws on the books. These are small numbers, but there is no such thing as an acceptable level of voter fraud."
That's true, and lawmakers and the folks in the Secretary of State’s office have worked hard to address any concerns. The tiny reality about voter fraud and election interference in Ohio doesn't come close to matching the outsized rhetoric some politicians hope will scare Ohioans into making a poor decision or indulging their worst inclinations.
Yes, it happens -- as it has since the beginning of free elections in this country. But there are people in county elections offices and the Secretary of State's office doing an excellent job securing our elections and tracking down the incredibly miniscule number of people who do attempt to get around them.
Ohioans can rely on THOSE folks to get the job done on our behalf, and to ensure that problems never do grow to a degree that matches the bizarre narrative that there are enemies at every polling place.
They would simply never allow that to happen.