On Tuesday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that six individuals had been charged for allegedly voting in previous elections despite being non-citizens.
Six individuals have been indicted for illegal voting in past elections, AG Yost announced today.
“The right to vote is sacred,” Yost said. “If you’re not a U.S. citizen, it’s illegal to vote – whether you thought you were allowed to or not – you will be held accountable.” pic.twitter.com/k9QFtPFmgO— Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (@OhioAG) October 22, 2024
In a press release, Yost pointed out that the “right to vote is sacred” — arguing that regardless of “whether you thought you were allowed to [vote] or not,” casting a vote as a non-citizen is still a crime and those who do so “will be held accountable.”
The right to vote is sacred, the exercise of authority by the sovereign people. It belongs *only* to citizens.
Offenses are rare—but WILL be prosecuted.
Grand jury indicts six legal, noncitizen immigrants for felony illegal voting https://t.co/8gobi5WR0F pic.twitter.com/Fm01F6YAIK
— Attorney General Dave Yost (@DaveYostOH) October 23, 2024
All of the non-citizens being charged for illegally voting are lawful residents, as they reportedly immigrated to the U.S. legally, but were still not allowed to vote in U.S. elections until they receive citizenship. The non-citizens being charged have been identified as 68-year-old Ramesh Patel of North Royalton, 78-year-old Lorinda Miller of Hudson, 32-year-old Nicholas Fontaine of Kent, 35-year-old Ahmed Aden of Columbus, 53-year-old Van Thuy Cooper of Hilliard, and 62-year-old Maria Dearaujo of Columbus.
Patel illegally voted in 2014, 2016, and 2018. He was indicted in Cuyahoga County on one count of illegal voting. Miller illegally voted in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and has been indicted in Summit County on two counts of illegal voting. Fontaine illegally voted in 2016 and 2018, and was indicted in Portage County on one count of illegal voting. Aden was indicted in Franklin County on one count of illegal voting after he illegally voted in 2008 and 2020. Cooper was also indicted in Franklin County on one count of illegal voting after she illegally voted in 2016 and 2020. Dearaujo illegally voted in 2016 and 2018 and has also been indicted in Franklin County on one count of illegal voting.
There was also a seventh individual caught illegally voting, but a Lorain County grand jury declined to charge the individual, who has only been identified as an Oberlin College student who illegally voted in Ohio and Washington in 2018, according to the press release.
Yost argued that these indictments should not be used to undermine confidence in the upcoming November election, stating: “Irregularities like this are rare, and this is a small number of cases. We should all be confident in the upcoming election, knowing that the laws are being enforced and will continue to be enforced.”
These indictments came soon after Ohio took action to remove 500 non-citizens from its voter rolls back in August following an audit of the state’s voter registration database. The audit reportedly found that 597 non-citizens were registered to vote in Ohio, 138 of whom appear to have illegally voted in past elections, though only the abovementioned six non-citizens have been charged thus far.
Ohio is removing noncitizens from state voter rolls!!!!
The audit uncovered 499 individuals who were registered to vote but were not U.S. citizens.@elonmusk was correct. This is happening: pic.twitter.com/eCLDUQluY8— Natalie F Danelishen (@Chesschick01) August 2, 2024
