Vote fraud in Ohio

Franklin County

The Franklin County Board of Elections said in October 2009 that it was investigating questionable absentee ballot applications that it discovered in a raid on an office of the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee in Cincinnati.

Hamilton County

See also: Absentee ballot vote fraud

The Hamilton County Board of Elections announced in October 2009 that it is investigating a case of attempted voter fraud based on the fact that absentee ballot applications were turned in using false information. The fraud was identified because although the names and addresses on the ballots were correct, the social security numbers and signatures didn't match voter registration cards. Inconsistencies were noticed in a batch of about 40 applications on Thursday, September 29. The office said, "There have been attempts in the past to fraudulently register people to vote. This is now going a step further in attempting to actually garner a ballot. And then, I assume, once they got that absentee ballot, if they were successful, they would try to vote it."

Dead people registered, voting

Television station WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio, conducted a month-long investigation in October 2008 into the possibility of dead people voting and found:

• 3,856 dead voters were still registered to vote in Miami Valley.
• 22 of those dead voters appear to have voted.
• Nancy Watts of Beavercreek, Ohio, who has been dead for two years, voted in the March 4, 2008 primary.

2006 Elections

In Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Claudel Gilbert was indicted on two felony counts of illegal voting and false registration, after being registered by ACORN to vote in two separate counties. He pled guilty to the illegal voting charges, his lawyer claiming voter confusion rather than criminal intent. The charges of false registration were dropped by the Franklin County prosecutor's office. Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye sentenced Gilbert to probation for one year and fined him $500 but suspended a six-month prison sentence

1976 presidential election

The margin between Ford and Carter in Ohio was less than 15,000 votes and whichever candidate won Ohio, won the election. Immediately after the November 2 election, the Republican Party and attorney Bob Huffman, of West Milton, Ohio, provided a small group of activists with legal support for a challenge.

A random check of voter registrations in precincts of the city of Cincinnati was conducted as follows. The Board of Elections provided researchers with lists of voters who actually voted in the presidential election only days prior. The registration card for each voter was then pulled and researchers personally traveled to the address listed on the voter's registration card.

Results: a significant percentage of the voter addresses were nonexistent, the individual listing the address as home did not live at the address, or the voter was deceased prior to the election. In the case of nonexistent addresses, the street number did not correspond to a building (43 Main street listed, but numbers ran 35, 40, 45, 50), the building at the address had previously been demolished, or the address was not a residential location (voter "Roosevelt Nixon" listed the city's transit parking lot as home address).

Legal action was taken in the form of a request for an injunction to halt the certification of the Ohio election results until the effect of fraud could be determined and corrected. The case was heard in Columbus, Ohio. The judge conceded that the evidence of fraud was overwhelming and well documented, but given that the entire national election hinged on his decision, was not willing to issue the injunction. He suggested instead that the Board of Elections conduct an audit and remove improper or nonexistent voters from the rolls prior to the next election.

This case is significant because it involves voters with improper registrations who actually voted in the election, rather than improper voter registrations caught prior to an election.