State Election & Politics National

LaRose announces election certification and DOJ fraud partnership amid legal challenges 

By Breeauna Sagdal | June 08, 2026

In back-to-back announcements, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose certified the 2026 primary results and launched an expanded partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Fraud Enforcement Division amid legal challenges from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, League of Women Voters and ACLU of Ohio.

The prompt certification follows legislation passed in 2025 that eliminated the four-day grace period for mail-in ballots, closing polls by 7:30 p.m. on election day. That bill, Senate Bill 293, also requires the Secretary of State to perform monthly citizenship checks and mandates monthly reports from counties on deceased voters.

Far-left groups — including CAIR, an organization facing a federal terror designation due to murky funding sources allegedly tied to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood; the League of Women Voters; and the ACLU of Ohio — are currently challenging SB 293 in federal court, alleging the bill mandates “automated purges” of eligible voters without proper notice.

Yet, the data appears to suggest otherwise. Turnout during the 2026 primary hit 23% with 1,791,152 total votes cast and only 1,564 late-arriving absentee ballots—a rejection rate of just 0.08%.

Crediting the legislation, LaRose noted the number as being a sharp decline from the previous 7,042 late-arriving mail-in ballots during the 2024 primary, while praising the bipartisan Boards of Elections for delivering a secure and accurate election.

“Ohioans deserve elections that are secure, accurate, and accessible, and once again our bipartisan county boards of elections delivered,” LaRose stated. “From Election Day voting to absentee and provisional ballots, every eligible vote was counted according to the law.”

LaRose’s office, which ran a strong public education campaign that urged voters to mail early or use secure drop boxes, said the dramatic reduction shows Ohioans have adapted to the new legislation.

According to the League of Women Voters and the ACLU of Ohio, however, more than 1,500 voters have been disenfranchised. In an interview with publicly funded media, Collin Marozzi, the advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, referred to the cut-off time as “the Republican legislature’s latest attempt to disenfranchise voters.”

In California, however, where the League of Women Voters and the ACLU’s legal challenges were successful in securing a 7-day grace period, voter confidence has plummeted since the June 2 primary, as 3.5 million mail-in ballots have flipped double-digit leads.

While supporters have claimed the longer process is required to count every vote, California rejected 141,913 ballots, or roughly 1.1% of 2024 voters, compared to Ohio’s 0.08%.

Taking to social media, LaRose compared California’s 7-day post-election window to “third-world nonsense,” emphasizing the policy’s role in certification delays and voter skepticism.

Crediting Ohio’s accurate certification process for allowing time to enjoy a Napa Cab, LaRose contrasted Ohio’s success in delivering final results quickly and reducing the type of prolonged uncertainty cited by anxious California voters.

Additionally, a Democracy Defense Project survey showed 70% of Ohio voters affirmed a strong trust in the 2024 election, with majorities showing support for the reforms delivered by SB 293.

The new DOJ partnership could soon further that trust. By providing federal investigators streamlined access to Ohio’s publicly available business registration data — names, owners, agents, filings, and status — the memorandum of understanding equips authorities to detect shell companies, hidden ownership, and fraudulent entities.

This directly impacts elections by disrupting campaign finance schemes, straw-donor operations, illegal contributions routed through fake LLCs, and voter-related fraud networks, such as fake registrations or ballot-harvesting rings.

“Fraud is a crime against every Ohio taxpayer, and it will not be tolerated,” LaRose declared. “We’ve kept fraud rare in our elections by staying one step ahead of the bad guys, and that’s the same approach we need to take with every public office, program and tax dollar in the state.” LaRose continued: “We’ve been leading on this effort for several years now, which resulted in a new state law that allows us to more effectively go after business filing fraud.”

Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald praised Ohio as a national model, encouraging other states to follow.

“This is meaningful to our prosecutors for purposes of identifying the entities that are used to facilitate fraud,” McDonald said. “This is a very important step, and I hope all states, all secretaries of state everywhere, follow your lead and join with us.”

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