‘We Won’t Tolerate Voter Fraud’: Ohio Secretary of State Discusses Role of New Election Integrity Office

Frank LaRose (Ohio Secretary of State) says many local and county elections are decided with one vote. Therefore, it is vital that citizens cast their ballots confidently.

“If an election can come down to a single vote, then a single fraudulent vote is too many,” LaRose shared his story with The Epoch Times.

LaRose created Ohio’s first Public Integrity Division. This office is open since October 2022 and has the responsibility of investigating allegations of election fraud and chicanery.

“It’s all about increasing confidence which drives greater participation,” LaRose stated.

LaRose claimed that one of his first tasks upon taking office in January 2019 was to read the statute listing duties for the secretary of state. Surprisingly, he found something that he had not seen.

As in many other states, the job of the secretary-of-state is to ensure security and oversight for election elections. This includes investigating fraud claims or irregularities in polling. There was just one thing.

“You’d think I would have investigators if I’m going to investigate,” LaRose stated.

LaRose says that his office handled 630 cases involving suspected voter fraud within the past four year. These allegations include voting in multiple states, forging signatures and voting multiple times.

Fourteen of the cases referred by the secretary of State’s office were not prosecuted.

He stated that in most cases, election fraud is discovered by poll workers or local election officials. They have always investigated and reported their findings to the county prosecutor or secretary of state.

LaRose stated that well-meaning people had inadvertently damaged the cases of their clients because they didn’t know how to collect, handle and preserve evidence. They may not have known what was illegal.

Then came 2020. LaRose stated that allegations of ballot harvesting and rigged processes were all part of the race between President Joe Biden in Pennsylvania and President Donald Trump in Georgia. This made it clear that people were losing confidence in their election results.

LaRose indicated that the Public Integrity Division is home to three investigators with extensive experience in both law enforcement and financial crime investigation. Because it is a game of numbers, he also hired a data analysts. It involves often looking for statistical trends.

He said that an investigator might compare voter rolls changes with vacant property numbers in the state.

Although a single trend does not prove fraud, LaRose stated that a trained investigator could identify if the trend warrants a closer examination. This investigator would know how to preserve the evidence they find.

2020 Was Not the First Controversy

LaRose says that Ohio is not the only state that takes election security more seriously. Louisiana and West Virginia have established similar offices. 2020 wasn’t the only controversial election.

Florida has had one of the most secure election systems in the nation since the 2000 presidential race—an election that many remember as a fiasco.

The results of that race between George W. Bush & Al Gore weren’t known for over three weeks.

This issue focused on tabulating votes cast using a punch card system. Some cards weren’t correctly punched. Others were partially punched to multiple candidates. The term “hanging chad” It became a common feature of late-night comedy programs.

The dispute was finally settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida officials also learned a lesson from that year.

Florida officials updated their voting machines and established new security measures for polling places after that election.

LaRose and other secretaries stated that security measures taken after previous contested elections had increased voter turnout during a hearing held before the Subcommittee on Elections.

Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) says that tighter security has resulted in a higher voter turnout.

“It’s simple: When voters have more confidence that their ballot will count, they are more likely to vote,” Lee spoke during the hearing.

One witness said that some voters were discouraged by the security measures.

“The fact is that some people—predominantly voters of color—face barriers to the ballot box that make it more difficult and more costly for them to vote than for other people,” Damon Hewitt is president and executive director at the Lawyers’ Commitee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Hewitt claimed that his organization dealt with cases where threats, state laws, disinformation were used in order to suppress votes from minorities.

The Epoch Times was informed by LaRose that the Public Integrity Division has been ready to deal with these allegations, as voter suppression can be as damaging and dangerous as election fraud.

“We won’t tolerate voter fraud, and we won’t tolerate voter suppression,” LaRose stated.

“Our job is to investigate any kind of election crime.”