Thank you for contacting Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office. We appreciate hearing from you.

Your inquiry raised a few questions that inferred a nefarious plot to engage in criminal activity by modifying the results of the Ohio General Election in 2020. Below I will provide a few examples of the comprehensive systems that Ohio’s legislature has put in place to ensure such a conspiracy not only didn’t happen – but couldn’t happen.

The front line of ensuring election integrity is people, and we will be relying on people like you, from both parties, as we prepare for local elections in 2021 and state and federal elections in 2022. To be a part of protecting Ohio’s elections and assuring access to every legal voter, please consider serving as a poll worker with your county board of elections. Your training and experience as a poll worker will give you first-hand, eye-witness experience to see the work done in all 88 counties to protect the security and accuracy of our elections. Such an opportunity will also provide a chance to work with the Republican and Democratic election officials who carry out the mission of conducting our elections and assuring the citizens of Ohio can trust that they are honest.

To put it bluntly, the claims made in the video by Dr. Frank and Mr. Lindell would not in any way be possible unless hundreds of Republican and Democratic election officials who run elections in each of Ohio’s 88 counties all conspired to simultaneously commit felonies as part of an untraceable master plan -- and not one of them ever speaking of it. Such a perfect crime is not only preposterous, but the ability to keep such a massive conspiracy secret defies even a basic understanding of human nature. By working with the dedicated professionals who run Ohio’s elections and participating in the process itself, you’ll see that the claims of a conspiracy to impact the results of Ohio’s election are simply not plausible.

Below are a few points that will provide some additional background about why Ohio’s a national leader in election security and accuracy.

Ohio is a paper ballot state. Every vote cast in Ohio is captured on paper. In the November 3, 2020 General Election, 66.5% of ballots cast in Ohio were paper ballots marked by the voter by their own hand and the remaining 33.5% of ballots were machine-marked and verified by the voter. In 47 counties, voters use pre-printed paper ballots that are marked by each voter. Cuyahoga and Hamilton Counties (two of the three largest in the state) used paper ballots. Hamilton County uses only paper ballots that are voted by all voters (except those voters who use the accessible voting equipment). In 28 counties, voters use a ballot marker that prints the ballot for the voter to review the choices they make after reviewing their actual choices on the ballot marking device. The ballot is then scanned in a ballot scanner. In 13 counties, voters utilize a Direct Recording Electronic voting machine with a voter-verified paper audit trail on which the voter may review their choices after reviewing their choices on the screen.

A verified paper audit trail is required by law. A verified paper audit trail “means a physical printout on which the voter’s ballot choices, as registered by a direct recording electronic voting machine, are recorded. The voter shall be permitted to visually or audibly inspect the contents of the physical paper printout. The physical paper printout shall be securely retained at the polling place until the close of the polls on the day of the election. After the physical paper printout is produced, but before the voter's ballot is recorded, the voter shall have an opportunity to accept or reject the contents of the printout as matching the voter's ballot choices. If a voter rejects the contents of the physical paper printout, the system that produces the voter-verified paper audit trail shall invalidate the printout and permit the voter to recast the voter's ballot.” R.C. 3506.01(H).

All Ohio counties provide absentee voters who apply to receive a ballot by mail with a paper ballot. 61.7% percent of absentee ballots were cast by mail in the November 3, 2020 General Election.

The assertion that a supercomputer used algorithms to control the outcome of the election by making the selections and assigning those ballots to voters is preposterous. No voting machines in Ohio are connected to the internet. Moreover, 100% of the ballots cast were on paper.

This would require the five voting system vendors in the state and bi-partisan election officials to collude to incorporate this algorithm and adjust this in real-time (as asserted). Certified systems used in Ohio have been examined by an independent Voting System Test Laboratory and examined by a bi-partisan Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners.

Moreover, all boards of elections are required to conduct a full battery of logic and accuracy testing on all voting equipment and are required to conduct pre-election public testing to ensure that all electronic voting systems are accurately and uniformly tabulating votes cast during an election. Logic and accuracy testing is the systematic pre-election testing of every component of a voting system with every ballot style to demonstrate that the ballots are accurate and that votes cast will be tabulated properly. Each board of elections is required to conduct L&A testing before every election on every single voting machine and component of automatic tabulating equipment, including backup machines and equipment. Boards are prohibited from deploying any voting equipment that has not undergone L&A testing. Voting machines are locked down, under strict bi-partisan custody and tamper-evident seals are placed on components once tested and they are never connected to the internet. Bi-partisan election officials verify that the tamper-evident seals are unbroken before the equipment may be used.

Before a voter may receive a ballot, they must provide identification to a bipartisan team of election officials.

A bipartisan team of election officials verify identification at the early in-person vote center during absentee voting or at the polling location on Election Day. All absentee voters who request a ballot by mail must provide identification, including signature verification, on both the application and ballot returning envelope.

Each board of elections maintains the absentee ballot application and identification envelope after each election. Each document is compared to the board of elections records prior to a ballot being provided and a ballot being counted. Bipartisan post-election audits are conducted in each of Ohio’s 88 counties to ensure that the results match the choices made by voters as recorded on the paper ballot.

These post-election audits are done following every election, though they seldom receive much attention. The post-election audit conducted statewide in all 88 counties following the 2020 general election returned a statewide accuracy rate of 99.98%. See our press release for more information:

https://www.ohiosos.gov/media-center/press-releases/2021/2021-01-05/

Comparing the 2010 Census Date to voter registration totals in a high-turnout election year is flawed. Voter registration totals are likely higher than census data since some registrations may be out of date. The registration totals available to the public online contain both active and voters in inactive/confirmation status. Historically, the turnout percentage among older adults has been higher than younger voters. The charts provided reflect this known statistical trend. There is a reference made in the video that the “same exact percentage of ballots are turned in” amongst the different age groups. The implication that is made in the video is that there was identical voter turnout across each age, which is not true. Rest assured, any allegations of voter fraud are taken seriously and are investigated by the Secretary of State’s office and county boards of elections. Any identified case is referred to the Ohio Attorney General or a county prosecutor for further investigation and criminal prosecution. To date, Dr. Frank has not shared his information with the Secretary of State’s office, but we are more than willing to review any specific allegation of voter fraud he may wish to provide.

Again, thank you for contacting Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Dave Ward | Director of Constituent Affairs

Office of the Ohio Secretary of State

O: 614.644.0816

OhioSoS.gov

This message and any response to it may constitute a public record and thus may be publicly available to anyone who requests it.