MOUNT VERNON — Investigations into voting fraud in the special August election are targeting three voters.
These three individuals, along with their provisional ballots, have been forwarded to the Knox County Prosecutor’s Office for review, pending the possibility of pressing criminal charges before a grand jury.
Knox County Board of Elections Director Jim Blazer noted the ongoing investigation prevents the identification of these individuals at this time.
A potential charge for an voting-fraud case would be illegal voting, a fourth-degree felony, Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville said. That offense carries a 6- to 18-month sentence.
The board of elections met earlier the week of Aug. 14 to review the approximate 270 provisional ballots for the special election, Blazer said. Among the nearly 300 ballots, board officials referred three to the prosecutor’s office through an anonymous vote.
Poll workers give provisional ballots when they receive insufficient information and when someone might have voted in the election, explained Blazer.
“It provides a curing period for us to uncover the backstory behind issuing a provisional ballot in the first place — whether it’s due to a bad ID or a wrong polling location.”
How are provisional ballots reviewed
The staff reviews the ballots before the board examines them, according to Blazer. We verify them against their voter registration and assess their signatures, which are also components of the voter registration. It’s possible they are not registered at all.
“There’s many variables that it could be,” Blazer said.
They receive a provisional ballot because something isn’t quite right, Blazer said.
“Instead of turning them away, you give this to them, and then you sort it out.”
The review timeline depends on the amount of provisional ballots, Blazer said, typically done in a week.
The integrity of the election is taken very seriously, Blazer said.
“When something that is under our review, and we find that there’s a problem, there’s an issue with it; the law is pretty specific about those types of things with regard to election fraud. So we take it seriously. The board takes it seriously and that’s why they asked that be referred to the prosecutor.”
The August election had an approximate 17% turnout, Blazer said, compared to May’s 1% turnout.
The issue on August’s election asked voters if making amendments to Ohio’s Constitution should be harder — i.e. needing a 60% voter approval, instead of the simple majority needed today.
The issue failed with 57% disapproving the amendment change, according to statewide unoffical final results.
Ohio Sec. of State Frank LaRose (R), who’s also running for U.S. Senate, released a statement after the election was called.
“Ohioans will see the devastating impact of this vote soon enough.”