Ohio election officials referred 52 possible cases of voter fraud stemming from the November 2016 election for further investigation or prosecution, Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Friday.
Ohio’s 88 county boards of election flagged 153 voting irregularities out of 5.6 million ballots cast during the November 2016 presidential election.
Of those, 52 individuals were referred to prosecutors. That’s less than half as many that were referred in 2013 from the county-by-county review following the 2012 presidential election.
Twenty-two individuals were identified as having voted both in Ohio and another state.
Husted said the review shows voter fraud is rare in the Buckeye State, but when it happens, violators are held accountable.
“Conducting these reviews of our elections is about finding the facts,” Husted said in a news release. “We reviewed every reported case of voter suppression and voter fraud and are sharing those facts to inform the discussion on election integrity.”
A 2014 cleveland.com analysis found most cases referred from these reviews are rarely prosecuted. The majority of referrals made after the 2012 election involved elderly voters or confusion over changing election laws.
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