DHS investigates alleged voter fraud in Dayton, school officials and voting rights activists protest

Investigators from the Department of Homeland Security defended their appearance at a Dayton-area career-tech high school by alleging voter fraud, and district officials and voting rights organizations criticized the agency’s decision.

The district’s spokesperson told The Ohio Capital Journal that DHS “did not conduct any immigration enforcement at this school,” adding that “there is no threat to public safety.”

Dayton Public Schools Superintendent David Lawrence said he got a call on Feb. 2 about federal officials at David Ponitz Career Technical High School.

“They came to David H. Ponitz claiming — claiming — that they had interviewed a Ponitz student, who’s no longer a student, who said they were part of some form of voter fraud,” he said.

Lawrence told the news outlet that the investigators informed him that the former student alleged that the school officials “directed” the students on “who to vote for.” Lawrence said it wasn’t true, adding that there is “no evidence of that.”

According to Lawrence, the district has hosted nonpartisan voter registration drives at its high schools for at least the last 15 years, adding that district officials take time to explain to interested students how they could participate in the voting process.

“We, at no time, ask anybody to vote for anyone. We just want to make sure they’re involved in the democratic process,” he told the Ohio Capital Journal. “We’re committed to democracy, and that’s what we do.”

After hearing the news, Ohio voting rights organizations also criticized the agency, questioning whether it was trying to prevent voter fraud.

Ohio League of Women Voters Executive Director Jen Miller told the news outlet that high schools “are required by law to offer voter registration forms because today’s students are our future elected officials and community leaders.”

“Registering students when they turn 18 helps turn lessons from the classroom into real civic participation,” she said. “We strongly condemn any efforts to intimidate Ohio students, schools, and leaders, and we will continue to monitor this situation closely.”

Steve David, the leader of the Ohio chapter of All Voting Is Local, went as far as to say that the actual reason why DHS conducted this investigation was to silence voters.

“These intimidation tactics are the latest evidence that the goals of federal law enforcement are not about safety, or even immigration,” he told the Ohio Capital Journal. “They are about silencing voters — and in this case, future voters — from their freedom to vote.”

Catherine Turcer, executive director of the voting rights group Common Cause Ohio, also said the law prohibits the Trump administration from controlling elections or altering the voting process.