COLUMBUS, Ohio — After Ohio’s attorney general accused a dead man of voter fraud, Cuyahoga County officials are accusing him of playing politics ahead of the election. We obtained documents that show the beginning of the communication breakdown.

It’s been quite a week for Attorney General Dave Yost.

“Today we’re talking about non-citizen voting,” Yost said at a news conference Tuesday.

During his event, the AG boasted about six allegations of voter fraud from previous elections. Each of them is a green card holder who allegedly voted in previous elections.

Three were from Northeast Ohio and the remaining three were from the Columbus area. All were legal permanent residents or green card holders.

That investigation stems from the summer when Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose complained to Yost that local district attorneys had ignored his team’s referrals for possible election fraud.

One of the six people charged was a 68-year-old North Royalton man who allegedly voted in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

“You will be held accountable in the state of Ohio,” Yost said.

Even if you’re dead?

It turned out that that voter died two years ago. Yet Yost blamed him.

“This is one of the greatest examples of prosecutorial excess I have ever witnessed,” Cuyahoga County District Attorney Michael O’Malley said Wednesday. “The practice of blaming the deceased is cruel.”

O’Malley says he is “philosophically opposed to indicting deceased persons who clearly had no way of defending themselves.”

Cuyahoga district attorney scolds state attorney general over voter fraud claim against dead man

RELATING TO: Cuyahoga district attorney scolds state attorney general over voter fraud claim against dead man

“This is not how we would have handled this case in my office,” O’Malley said. “I urge Ohio Attorney General David Yost to immediately dismiss this indictment.”

When Yost’s team learned of the death, they told us “of course” they would dismiss the charges. We asked LaRose on Friday how that could happen.

“Actually, you know, it’s the district attorney’s problem because why did it take so long for him not to investigate this case and we had to refer it to the attorney general?” LaRose replied.

Cuyahoga County has continued to adamantly deny being referred to this case, but we have obtained some records from the AG’s office.

In a booking memo dated March 25, 2020, a special agent with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation wrote that he sent “completed investigative reports” regarding the alleged voter to the former Cuyahoga County deputy prosecutor for review.

“There is no need for additional investigative efforts at this time,” the agent wrote.

Marks the case as “closing” at the top of the log.

I spoke with Lexi Bauer, a spokeswoman for the Cuyahoga County District Attorney’s Office. The team was unavailable for interviews but provided information when we reached out during the week.

Bauer texted me: “We searched our case management system and have no record of the case.”

He told me in an earlier message that they “couldn’t tell me why it was off on theirs.”

He added that their APA leaves the office in early 2023.

“We have prosecuted numerous cases of voter fraud referred to us by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, including this week,” he said. “We work with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office every day. If there was an issue with this case, it was never brought to our office’s attention.”

I asked the AG’s office for any documentation showing direct communication between their office and Cuyahoga County or a letter from the county denying prosecution. Their spokesperson told me they were working on several of my requests.

But Bauer pointed out a point that many officials from other regions have raised: that the timing is “suspicious.”

“We can only guess why this issue arose two weeks before Election Day, but it appears the matter was politically motivated,” Bauer said. he said. “A genuine investigation into this matter would have included an investigation that would have quickly established that (the individual) died two years ago. Clearly, this investigation was not completed before being presented to the grand jury.”

Atiba Ellis, a nonpartisan election law professor at Case Western Reserve University, was stunned by the revelation of the indictment. He also questioned the timing and review of both Yost and LaRose.

“This seems more aimed at trying to show evidence where there is insufficient evidence,” Ellis added. “At the very least, filing criminal charges against a dead person would increase the presumption that the Attorney General or the State Department failed to exercise due diligence in preparing appropriate indictments.”

One thing that stands out in talking with different agencies and boards of elections is that there are Democratic prosecutors in every county the Republican AG and secretary cover.

Two of the living individuals charged (as far as we know) were from Northeast Ohio. One of them was a 78-year-old woman from Hudson in Summit County who allegedly voted in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The other was a 32-year-old man from Kent in Portage County who allegedly voted in 2016 and 2018.

The other three were located in the Columbus area. A 35-year-old man allegedly voted in 2008 and 2020; A 53-year-old woman allegedly voted in 2016 and 2020; and a 62-year-old woman allegedly voted in 2016 and 2018.

The indictment in Summit County is listed as “sealed,” meaning secret.

“Under Ohio Revised Code, it is improper for anyone to comment on a sealed indictment until the defendant is in custody or appears in court,” said James Pollack, spokesman for the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office.

It’s unclear how Yost broke the news Tuesday, before the man was taken into custody or appeared in court.

The Portage County Prosecutor’s Office never responded to repeated requests.

The Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, whose communications are handled by an outside PR firm, said the cases were referred to them.

“The office reviewed the cases and decided not to proceed with prosecuting them,” the public relations team said.

I asked their spokesperson why they didn’t file a lawsuit.

The response I got was, “They don’t want to share those reasons right now.”

In conclusion, Yost emphasized that six potentially fraudulent voters out of 8 million registered voters is a very small amount and proves there is no widespread voter fraud in Ohio.

“Voting irregularities like this are rare… We must all ensure that the laws are and will continue to be enforced in the upcoming elections,” the AG said.

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