“It’s worth repeating that the administration does not have legal authority to control elections or change the voting process,” said Catherine Turner, executive director of Common Cause Ohio. “The Trump administration continues to make clear its true intention in deploying federal law enforcement: to spread fear and take power from the American people.”
Turner added, “It is now up to state and local election officials and the voters themselves to uphold the law and protect Americans’ fundamental freedom to vote.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Homeland Security Investigations — the primary investigative arm of DHS — visited Ponitz as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Dayton Public Schools Superintendent David Lawrence said the agents shared that a graduated Ponitz student had said he or she was told who to vote for when filling out a voter registration form. Lawrence said there is no evidence that took place.
Jen Miller, executive director of the Ohio League of Women Voters, told this news outlet the League has not heard of any similar situations of DHS investigating alleged voter fraud at schools elsewhere in Ohio.
Miller noted that high schools are required by law to offer voter registration to 18-year-olds. She said Ohio already lags behind neighboring states in 18-year-old voter registration.
“Registering students when they turn 18 helps turn lessons from the classroom into real civic participation,” Miller said. “We strongly condemn any efforts to intimidate Ohio students, schools and leaders, and we will continue to monitor this situation closely.”
‘Wildly out of bounds’
Collin Marozzi, advocacy director of ACLU of Ohio, says the description of the allegations does not sound like election fraud or interference. Instead, he said, the alleged conduct sounds like inappropriate individual activity that state and local officials normally would be in charge of probing.
Dispatching DHS agents to a high school to investigate an allegation like what was described is “wildly out of bounds” with DHS’ authority, Marozzi said.
“It cannot be overstated how unusual this is,” Marozzi said. “Quite frankly, this is a shocking use of DHS.”
DHS says it is in charge of protecting the nation’s borders and economy and stopping terrorist and security threats and attacks, including cyberspace and critical infrastructure. The agency works with other partners to try to address risks to election infrastructure.
The Department of Justice and the FBI investigate a variety of election and voter crimes. DHS is a separate agency.
Marozzi said the timing of DHS’ visit is concerning given the Trump administration’s recent rhetoric, with the president saying he wants to seize voting machines and nationalize elections, based on his claims that past elections were rigged.
“We should not be OK normalizing federal law enforcement showing up to investigate very minor election law violations — if they are violations at all," he said.
All Voting Is Local Ohio Director Steve David said the Trump administration is engaging in classic authoritarian playbook tactics.
“I think this as an attempt to intimidate people, to intimidate young people, to intimidate the schools, to intimidate volunteers from encouraging people to engage in legal voter registration activities,” he told the Dayton Daily News. All Voting is Local is a voting rights organization that is focused on improving ballot access.
There’s a throughline of the Ponitz visit with other incidents taking place around the nation, like Attorney General Pam Bondi’s demand that Minnesota hand over private voter registration records to the federal government, David said.
Volunteers are allowed to tell students how to register and get involved in the political process, David said.
“I think they are trying to create an atmosphere where it is acceptable to intimidate anyone they see as their political opponents in order to hold onto power,” he said.
Who runs elections?
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose — a Republican running this year for state auditor — oversees elections in Ohio. Local boards of elections run the actual elections.
The directors of the boards of elections, who oversee daily operations, in Montgomery, Greene and Miami counties are all Republicans, with co-equal Democratic deputy directors. Each county elections office is run by a board evenly split between Republican and Democratic members.
Asked about the Ponitz visit, the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office said they can’t comment on investigations but every allegation of election misconduct is taken seriously.
“We’re working daily with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to uphold the highest standards of election integrity in Ohio,” said Ben Kindel, press secretary for the Ohio Secretary of State. “That includes cooperating with our federal partners on a number of active cases.”
Kindel said voter fraud is rare in Ohio, “because of the work we do to keep it that way.”
