‘If you’re not a citizen, it is illegal to vote whether you thought you were allowed to or not,’ Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.
Grand juries in Ohio have indicted six people for allegedly casting illegal votes as noncitizens in past elections.
Ahmed Aden, 35, a Columbus resident, and five others are accused of illegally voting in multiple elections despite lacking U.S. citizenship at the time, according to indictments made public on Oct. 22.
Aden allegedly cast ballots in 2008 and 2020, according to an indictment.
Nicholas Fontaine, 32, of Kent; Van Thuy Cooper, 53, of Hilliard; Maria Dearaujo, 62, of Columbus; Ramesh Patel, 68, of North Royalton; and Lorinda Miller, 78, of Hudson, have also been indicted for allegedly voting in various elections between 2014 and 2020 despite not having citizenship.
The defendants could not be reached for comment.
“If you’re not a citizen, it is illegal to vote whether you thought you were allowed to or not, and you will be held accountable in the state of Ohio,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said at a news conference.
Yost’s office steps in when local prosecutors decline to pursue cases against alleged criminals.
Five of the people were charged with one count of illegal voting. Miller was charged with two counts.
The law against illegal voting states that no person shall “vote or attempt to vote in any primary, special, or general election in a precinct in which that person is not a legally qualified elector.”
The law also prohibits voting more than once in one election.
Illegal voting is a fourth-degree felony that carries a potential sentence of up to 18 months in prison, but Yost said he expects that none of the defendants, if convicted, will be sentenced to prison time.
Yost’s office acted after Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in August referred 138 cases of alleged illegal voting to the office.
Special state prosecutors started looking at the cases and prioritized those involving noncitizens, according to Yost.
Prosecutors are still working through the cases, including other referrals made in September. Some of the cases involve voting more than once.
