Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced today the creation of the first-ever Public Integrity Division in his office, part of an ongoing effort to build on Ohio’s record as a national leader in maintaining secure, accurate, and accessible elections.
The Public Integrity Division consolidates many of the office’s current investigative functions, including campaign finance reporting, voting system certification, voter registration integrity, the investigation of election law violations, data retention & transparency, and cybersecurity protocols.
Ohioans deserve to have confidence and faith in their election system. While Ohio has developed a strong national reputation for secure, accurate, and accessible elections, a national trend is growing that indicates a crisis of confidence in the electoral process. In fact, recent polling shows Americans are losing confidence in the state of our democracy.
“One in five registered voters in a new national NBC News poll said the most important issue facing the country is threats to democracy, but the exact nature of those threats varies widely by political party.”
“This is a responsibility I take very seriously because this quite simply is about defending democracy,” said LaRose. “Our elections are being scrutinized like never before, and any lack of absolute confidence in the accuracy and honesty of those elections weakens the very foundation of our democracy. It’s the duty of my office to earn and maintain that trust.”
While both voter fraud and suppression have proven to be exceedingly rare in Ohio, any transgression of either breaches the promise made to Ohio voters and hinders confidence in the outcome of elections. Since 2020, 31 different contests have ended in ties across Ohio with many dozens of others coming down to a very small number or even being decided by a single vote. In these cases, a single vote can impact the trajectory of a community. One key goal of these efforts is increased participation resulting from elevated levels of voter confidence. By strengthening investigative capabilities as well as enhancing the transparency of security protocols & outcomes, voters will have greater confidence their vote has value, and the integrity of Ohio’s election system is secure.
Ohio's top law enforcement officer and collaborative partner in pursuing allegations of voter fraud, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, supports the Secretary's Public Integrity Division initiative. "As the chief election officer for our state it makes sense that election integrity be an integral focus to their office," said Attorney General Yost. "This work falls firmly within the Secretary of State’s purview and my team stands ready to assist. Properly enforcing election laws is the best way to keep Ohio’s elections honest and secure.”
LaRose has already directed more financial and operational resources into election integrity and cybersecurity protocols than any previous secretary of state, including the implementation of mandatory pre- and post-election audits and the regular cross-checking of voter registration data both within Ohio and through records provided by exchange with other states. The Secretary of State’s Public Integrity Division will begin operation on October 10, just before Ohio’s voter registration deadline (October 11) and the start of early voting (October 12). New investigators will be integrated into the division after the 2022 General Election.
Learn more about the Public Integrity Division at OhioSoS.gov/PublicIntegrity
Posted October 5, 2022