Prosecutors determined there was no criminal intent to pursue action against one who voted twice, first in early voting and again on Election Day.
Another individual who was not registered asked to vote Election Day. She was given a provisional ballot, filled it out and then ran the ballot through the ballot scanner instead of returning it to a poll worker for processing, Bruns said. This was the person’s first time voting, she said.
County Prosecutor Tony Kendell said he and his investigator agreed those were “innocent and silly mistakes.” This is similar to what prosecutors have tended to find in the vast majority of cases when they have been asked to explore possible voter fraud.
In the former Troy resident case, Bruns told the elections board information in the incident was presented to a county grand jury. The grand jury voted to return a no bill, meaning no charge.
Kendell said he could not discuss this case because of the confidentiality of grand jury proceedings.
That incident of possible voter fraud was brought to the attention of election officials after a woman posted a message on social media describing how she had voted in the Troy election instead of where she now lives.
“I recently moved to Vandalia (planning to move back eventually), but I am still registered to vote in Troy,” the woman wrote. “I’m glad I was able to vote on your school levy over Vandalia’s as Troy needed it more.”
Another participant on the social media site asked if the woman had voted to raise Troy’s school taxes, even though she doesn’t live in Troy.
“Yes. However, I work and do all of my shopping in Troy. My daughter went to Troy City Schools for three years. They needed the funding badly. We plan to move back to Troy in the next three years,” the voter answered.
Another case referred to prosecutors after the initial referrals remains under investigation, Bruns said. That situation involved a person who registered and voted absentee by mail in Miami County, then on Election Day voted provisional in Athens County.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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