Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. (Photo by Morgan Trau, WEWS.)

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced six indictments for voter fraud Tuesday stemming from referrals made by Secretary of State Frank LaRose earlier this year. Even as Yost insisted on the importance of the investigations and prosecutions he sought to calibrate the scope of the issue.

Voting is a “sacred right” Yost insisted, and the six charges represent less than 1% of the referrals made by LaRose’s office. The AG added he doesn’t expect jail time in any of the cases and expressed minor frustrations with the quality of referrals.

Still, after a months-long drumbeat about alleged voter fraud, Yost’s announcement coming just two weeks before Election Day could fuel claims of a stolen election.

Yost’s role and authority

Yost’s office received more than 600 referrals of alleged voter fraud from the Secretary of State, which the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigated. Of those referrals only 138 included allegations of illegal voting — the remainder had to with issues like improper registrations.

The Attorney General stressed that illegal voting is a “strict liability” offense.

“Think about a speeding ticket,” Yost said. “You are stopped for going 52 miles an hour. You thought it was a 50 mile an hour zone. Cop tells you it’s 35. Doesn’t make any difference that you didn’t intend to speed, that you didn’t know that you were speeding, or even that you were reckless or negligent about it — you’re just liable, and ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

But his office can only pursue charges after the local county prosecutor is given “adequate time” to take them up on its own. In all, Yost successfully brought six charges against lawful permanent residents.

Ramesh Patel faces one count of illegal voting in Cuyahoga County
Lorinda Miller faces two counts of illegal voting in Summit County
Nicholas Fontaine faces one count of illegal voting in Portage County
Ahmed Aden, Van Thuy Cooper and Maria Dearaujo all face one count of illegal voting in Franklin County.

Each one of the defendants allegedly voted in two or more elections between 2008 and 2020. They face fourth degree felonies which carry a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison and five years’ probation post-release. But given the facts of the cases Yost said its unlikely any of them would face time behind bars.

“Absent criminal history or being part of a criminal enterprise, I don’t see these as being good use of expensive state prison beds,” Yost explained. “That being said, this is important. The right to vote is sacred. It is part of our exercise of sovereignty as a self-governing people.”

“If you’re not a citizen, you don’t get a say, period, and there ought to be consequences if you act differently,” he added.

The charges in context

Zeroing in on the 138 referrals of alleged illegal voting his office received, Yost argued, “There are not enough of these cases, even if every single one is justified, (…) that’s simply not enough that it would have changed any of those elections.”

The AG also voiced some frustration with the Secretary for referring so many cases in which the only offense had to do with registration.

“I need to have sit down with the Secretary of State about the value of those cases where there was no voting — I think that we ought to be focusing on the voting,” Yost said.

“I’m thinking that I don’t really want to pull people off of officer-involved critical incident investigations, child rapists, murderers to be chasing voter registration cases for past elections,” he added.

And while Yost explained his office is still working through cases and waiting to see whether county prosecutors plan to take up charges, he repeatedly stressed that the number of actual charges is extremely low.

“I think this should enable everybody to take a deep breath and be more confident that our elections are, in fact, safe and secure, and the noncitizens are not going to vote,” Yost insisted. “And if they are — if that would happen — the few that slip through the cracks will be held accountable.”

Why now?

On the other hand, with an election just two weeks away in which one presidential campaign regularly amplifies baseless claims of voter fraud, Yost’s timing is complicated. Will his charges reassure skeptics or encourage further conspiracy theories? For his part, Yost argued his office is just pursuing an investigation as obligated.

“I got these referrals in August, and here we are in mid-October, and we have indictments,” Yost said. “I will refer you to the Secretary of State on his choice of timing, but we acted with all appropriate speed.”

David Becker with the Center for Election Innovation and Research was quick to insist anyone who violated the law should be held fully accountable — up to and including deportation. “That is why we see this so rarely,” he said, “The penalties far exceed the reward.”

But while he argued the prosecutors should pursue charges “diligently” they should also do so “in close proximity to the crime.” Becker previously served as a senior trial attorney in the voting section at U.S. Department of Justice, and he explained the agency had strict rules against bringing cases close to an election because of potential interference in the voting process.

“Why wouldn’t they wait until after the election to hold a press conference to announce an indictment?” he wondered aloud.

“The Federal Department of Justice would never do this,” he said, “and I can’t imagine a good reason for a state law enforcement agency to announce indictments for illegal voting that may have occurred as much as 10 years ago, two weeks before a major presidential election.”

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