When Fairfield County Board of Elections training team members skipped a conference on making sure just legally acceptable forms of photo identification are used to cast ballots, Sue Mazzarini said she was surprised next month. The Baltimore, Ohio, poll worker was well aware of Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s June training directive mandating that all Precinct Election Officials ( PEOs ) are  , trained on unacceptable forms of voter ID, including identification issued to noncitizens, who are not allowed to vote in U. S. and Ohio elections. LaRose is correct to be concerned about the number of foreigners who appear on state voting floats, including hundreds in Ohio and probably many thousands more.  ,
But when Mazzarini asked her team’s consultant about the missing education, she said she was treated to a berating presentation.  ,
You are not the ID officers, she ] the professor said. That is not your work. If that is what you want to do, I suggest you look for a company that will let you use those knowledge, but that is not what you are here for,” the poll worker said in a telephone appointment on Friday evening.  ,
Mazzarini said she afterwards asked another professor, who responded yet more bluntly.
He said,” If you decide to pursue this avenue, we will remove you from being a poll worker and you can never work as a poll worker again,” Mazzarini said.  ,
She’s never only.  ,
” Failed to Fulfill Its Clear Legal Obligation.”
Ohio election morality activist and ballot employee Marcell Strbich said he experienced the same problem at a pre-election training program conducted by the Montgomery County Board of Elections. When the course turned to the section on ID recognition, Strbich claimed, instructors did n’t mention how to identify noncitizen identification. Strbich inquired about the mistake because she was well-versed in issues relating to election integrity and was open to posing questions to the professionals. He was told that the substance was never available for that category. According to Strabich, he followed up with another poll workers who had received the training in subsequent classes. They also told him that they did n’t receive any instruction on how to check noncitizen ID.  ,
In a telephone appointment on Friday afternoon, Strbich told me that” I learned several other poll employees had the same problem.” In reality, he claimed, the issue appears to be widespread. Strbich said ballot employees in Knox, Miami, Wood and Franklin regions suffered similar education errors. Ohio’s state funds Columbus is located in Franklin County, the country’s most populous state.  ,
The Precinct Election Official took his grievance to the Ohio Supreme Court seeking a petition of mandamus to need state board of votes conduct the education as spelled out in the secretary of state’s order. The judge decided to take the situation and put it on a quick turnaround. The MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS and its people ‘ failure to perform their legal obligations is stated in Strabich’s complaint.
Late Friday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in large part agreeing that the Montgomery Board of Elections “failed to comply with its clear legal duty to provide training in accordance with secretary of state’s directive” . ,
No Acceptable:
The problem, which was filed on September 30, uses the secretary of state’s order, which states Ohio sheets of votes “must use education materials prepared by the secretary of state’s office as well as additional materials prepared by the table or on behalf of the board for the club’s certain needs, including best practices.” PEO training particularly may include teaching on:  ,
How to determine a politician’s personality using the photo ID card the voter has provided,” How to ensure that only legally acceptable forms of picture ID are accepted, and how to train PEOs on unethical forms of photo ID, including image IDs issued to non-citizens,” and” How to ensure that only legally acceptable forms of picture ID are accepted.”
On the back of photo ID and license issued by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, there is now a noncitizen’s notation on the back. But it is a small notation, and could be easily missed by poll workers.  ,
According to the secretary of state’s Precinct Election Training Manual,” State of Ohio noncitizen identification, also known as a Non Renewable/Non Transferable credential, is not acceptable” as a form of voting identification.  ,
Last week, the Montgomery County Board of Elections asked the court to dismiss Strbich’s complaint without prejudice. The filing contends that Strbich, a voter and resident of Ohio, is unaffiliated and that he has not used all of his administrative remedies.  ,
Russ Joseph, the deputy administrator for the Montgomery County Board of Elections, told me on Friday that he had not much to add because the litigation was still “holding pattern.”
Our PEOs are receiving thorough training and everything they need before Election Day, he said, with that being said.  ,
According to the Dayton Daily News, Joseph was given the order in February to take his own training course on public records law after acknowledging that he had released a confidential county prosecutor memo to the county Democratic Party, who was contesting former Trotwood Mayor Mary McDonald’s Republican primary candidacy.  ,
In a reply to the BOE’s motion to dismiss, Strbich’s attorney argued the county’s failure to train elections officials on noncitizen IDs is not in dispute. The Board of Elections failed to provide the training on three separate occasions, according to Strbich. The Board, in fact, now admits that at a minimum, all training it provided for precinct election officials on September 25, 2024, and prior to that date did not address the unacceptable forms of photo identification cards, including those for non-citizens,” the reply notes.”  ,
According to the court filing, the Montgomery County BOE stated it would send updated slides, training pieces, and the training material on legally acceptable photo ID for noncitizens at the end of the training season to affected election workers. It claimed that the “remediation” had not yet been taken.  ,
Strbich contends that even the Board of Elections implicitly acknowledges that “going up follow-up emails with training materials is a pale substitute for actual training.”  ,
In granting the writ of mandamus in part, the Ohio Supreme Court found that while the BOE did update its training materials to comply with the directive”, affected classes of individuals did not receive the updated training. However, the court determined that sending updated training materials via email is sufficient.  ,
Strbich said he’s satisfied with the ruling, but it needed to go farther.  ,
The election integrity advocate stated in a phone interview on Sunday that the Ohio Supreme Court recognized and took action to address the noncitizen poll worker training gaps. However, the secretary of state should enact further instructions to ensure that on Election Day, before poll workers take their oath, the voting location manager personally instructs them on what to do.  ,
Particularly alarming is
Through the overwhelmingly popular passage of a 2022 constitutional amendment, Ohio’s citizens have made it clear that they do not want foreigners to cast ballots in Buckeye State elections.
” Only a citizen of the United States…has the qualifications of an elector, and is entitled to vote at all elections. ” The amended language states that no person who lacks those qualifications shall be able to cast ballots in any state or local election held in this state.  ,
As of March, the state of Ohio had issued more than 223, 000 noncitizen IDs, according to Ohio Department of Public Safety data Strbich obtained in a public records request.  ,
Election integrity advocates are understandably concerned about the potential of nonciizens voting in the crucial general election because an unprecedented number of foreign nationals are entering the United States on the Biden-Harris administration’s watch and Democrats are opposed to basic measures requiring proof of citizenship to vote. The issue is particularly pressing in swing states that are once again likely to decide the presidential election by razor-thin margins.  ,
Attorney General Merrick Garland was written by a number of congressional Republicans last week to express their concern about the DOJ’s inaction in addressing the state voter rolls ‘ growing number of foreigners. Garland, a bitter partisan leftist who has weaponized the Justice Department against Democrats ‘ political enemies, not surprisingly has ignored a prior request for information.
The letter to Garland, which more than 70 Republican members of Congress signed,” we are deeply concerned by reports of non-citizens registering to vote and voting in federal elections.” There has n’t been a response from you or your department as of right now regarding the inquiry conducted on July 12, 2024, inquiring about efforts made by your department to enact laws that forbid non-citizen voting.  , Given that the 2024 Presidential Election is in less than 34 days, your Department’s inaction and refusal to provide any information regarding its efforts to promote public trust and confidence in our elections is especially alarming. ”  ,
Federal law requires that states accept the federal voter registration form, which allows for an honor system where registrants check a box proving their citizenship instead of requiring proof of citizenship. While lying on the form is a felony, citizenship claims are generally taken at the voter’s word.  ,
Apparently, Christina Adkins, the Texas Secretary of State’s office’s director of election, has contradictory instructions for noncitizen photo IDs. In a memo sent last week, Adkins wrote that the office has” consistently made clear that Texans should not use “driver’s licenses and other types of IDs issued to foreign nationals to participate in elections”, even if it otherwise constitutes a valid form of ID. ”  ,
Elections officials should inform the voter that the voter’s identification” suggests that the person is not a citizen of the United States,” Adkins advised. But then she directs elections officials to offer a regular ballot to the individual if he” does not have further questions or concerns and wishes to proceed to vote. Adkins notes that it is possible that the person received naturalized U.S. citizenship status after the limited-term ID was issued. Additionally, it’s possible that the person is still a foreign national who is not eligible to vote.  ,
Late on Friday, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson updated the conflicting instructions, requiring voters to cast a regular ballot with a noncitizen ID and proof of naturalization.
Secretary of State Nelson believed that he had done the right thing. Her amended election advisory closes a potential loophole that could have allowed noncitizens to attempt to vote,” Lone Star State Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement“. This is a crucial step in the direction of ensuring our elections, and Texas must do everything in its power to stop noncitizens from casting ballots.
It Is No Optional  ,
In Ohio, LaRose has weighed in on the reported lack of poll worker training in Fairfield County. The secretary of state stated in a statement to The Federalist that his office had “investigated the allegations and determined that the Board of Elections” had not fully complied with his June directive on vetting noncitizen IDs. LaRose added that the board members “have accepted responsibility and quickly put a plan to correct the error. ”  ,
We worked with them to make sure they’ve taken all the necessary steps to update their training materials and provide that information to anyone who has already completed the training. According to LaRose, I’ve also instructed my team to audit the county’s most recent training sessions and asked my Election Integrity Unit to be on the lookout for similar issues in other counties.  ,
The Fairfield Board of Elections ‘ representatives did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment.  ,
Strbich said there are several counties in the state ignoring the required training and LaRose has n’t held any of their top elections officials accountable. Additionally, he worries that election officials wo n’t veto any of the candidates ‘ naturalization documents and receive a regular ballot, not a provisional one.  ,
Under Ohio election law, a member, director or employee of a local board of elections who” willfully or negligently violate]s ] or neglect]s ] to perform any duty imposed upon him by law, or willfully perform]s ] or neglect]s ] to perform it in such a way as to hinder the objects of the law, or willfully disobey ]s ] any law incumbent upon him so to do …. shall be fired from his position as a board member or employee and be found guilty of a fourth degree felony.
Compliance is” not optional,” LaRose told the Ohio Press Network. ”  ,
We’ve been in contact with the boards on this requirement daily. He said in response to the complaint made by Mazzarini, the Fairfield County poll worker, that IT IS NOT OPTIONAL and that there will be consequences for noncompliance.  ,
Mazzarini said she would n’t be surprised if the Fairfield County Board of Elections reprimanded her for raising the matter and posing questions.  ,
” I’m waiting for a letter from them telling me I ca n’t be a poll worker,” she said.
Matt Kittle covers The Federalist’s senior elections coverage. Kittle was the executive director of Empower Wisconsin before becoming an award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism.