State: More than 100 non-citizens have voted in Ohio

A total of 821 non-citizens have registered to vote in Ohio over the past five years — 126 of whom actually cast ballots — Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced today.

Husted’s office has since 2013 reviewed election data to identify non-citizens on voter rolls. The 385 non-citizen voters found this year are added to 145 in 2015 and 291 in 2013.

This year’s analysis found non-citizens registered to vote in Montgomery, Clark, Miami, Darke, Shelby and Auglaize counties. Of those, two in Montgomery County voted, and one each in Auglaize, Darke Shelby counties.

“In light of the national discussion about illegal voting it is important to inform our discussions with facts. The fact is voter fraud happens, it is rare and when it happens, we hold people accountable,” Husted said in a statement.

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Husted’s office says he was able to find the non-citizen voters using Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle data. Husted has argued for more access to federal data.

“There are likely additional non-citizens in the (statewide registered voter database) given the lack of access to more real-time data maintained by the federal government,” today’s release says.

The 82 non-citizens found this year to have cast ballots will be referred to law enforcement for investigation and possible prosecution, Husted’s office said.

Those who are registered but have not voted will receive letters informing them non-citizens cannot vote and asking them to cancel their registration. If they remain on the rolls after receiving two letters, they will be referred to law enforcement.

None of the cases where a non-citizen is shown to have cast a ballot occurred in jurisdictions where an election was decided by one vote or tied, Husted’s office says.

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