Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has issued a stern warning to election boards, urging them to be on high alert in the lead-up to November’s election. This comes after an investigation uncovered illegal voter registration forms floating around in Clark County. In a media advisory, LaRose’s office mentioned that their Election Integrity Unit had traced the origins of one such form, translated into Haitian Creole, and flagged by the Clark County Board of Elections. The suspicious form had a name scrawled on it but little else. Under Ohio law, election falsification is no joke—it’s a fifth-degree felony.
Hun Yi, director of investigations for the Secretary of State’s Public Integrity Division, praised the Clark County board for catching the fraudulent form early. He explained in a memo that the form was mistakenly mixed in with others outsourced to a foreign language translation service. The timing of this discovery, as Clark County has seen a massive influx of Haitian migrants, made the issue particularly notable. Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to extend Temporary Protected Status to 300,000 Haitians, Springfield, Ohio, is now home to around 30,000 new arrivals, creating major strains on local services.
Meanwhile, LaRose’s press release pointed to an ongoing investigation into voter registration fraud. He noted a disturbing trend involving a group called Black Fork Strategies, which prides itself on “building long-term progressive power.” Translation: they’re in the business of canvassing and voter registration—except now, they’re also under investigation for potentially fraudulent activities.
Last month, LaRose’s office referred multiple cases related to Black Fork to prosecutors in 20 counties. The violations involve everything from petition forms to push a constitutional amendment on the ballot to fraudulent voter registration forms. Hamilton County, near Cincinnati, reported its own findings of sketchy behavior, including a “stack of registration forms” that all appeared to be in the same handwriting—an obvious red flag for fraud.
Hamilton County Board of Elections member and Ohio Republican Party chairman Alex Triantafilou didn’t mince words about the situation. He called it outright fraud, dismissing the politically correct language of “anomalies” or “suspicion.” As he rightly pointed out, when you’ve got that many forms in the same handwriting, it’s clear someone’s trying to rig the system. Sadly, these canvassers often prey on individuals who may not fully understand what they’re signing, making it all the more egregious.
