Department of Justice to monitor voting in Portage County

This story has been updated with additional information

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it will monitor voting in Portage County to ensure federal laws are followed.

Although not specifically named in the DOJ announcement, the move comes weeks after residents filed complaints with federal and state authorities regarding a Facebook post by Republican Sheriff Bruce Zuchoswki.

In a Facebook post, Zuchowski suggested people write their neighbors’ addresses with Kamala Harris street signs so illegal immigrants can move into those homes.

Zuchowski also used dehumanizing terms in his message for Harris and immigrants. He called Harris a “hyena” and described immigrants as locusts.

The Facebook post immediately caused an uproar. Some residents said they felt it was voter intimidation, especially since Zuchowski is the county’s top law enforcement official.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state’s chief elections officer, declined to take action against fellow Republican Zuchowski. But the bipartisan Portage County Board of Elections decided not to use county sheriff’s deputies to provide election security in this year’s elections, following the sheriff’s Facebook post.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday how many Department of Justice employees would be in Portage County or where they would be working.

Messages left with the DOJ and the Portage County Board of Elections were not immediately returned.

But DOJ officials may already be on the ground in Portage County. A press release from the DOJ says its staff will monitor both early voting and ballots cast on Election Day in Portage County.

“Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, DOJ Civil Rights Division employees have regularly monitored elections on the ground in jurisdictions across the country to protect voters’ rights,” it says. the DOJ press release.

Portage County Sheriff Zuchowski did not respond to a message left at his office. But Ralph Spidalieri, chief deputy of the sheriff’s office, said Tuesday he doesn’t think federal election observers are necessary.

“I think it’s really overblown,” he said. “We did not intimidate any voters. We serve everyone. No one had any negative encounters.

Still, Denise Smith, chair of the Portage County Democratic Party, said Tuesday she welcomes the DOJ’s efforts.

“We are grateful that the DOJ is present, especially since state officials … have not responded and done nothing,” she said.

The sheriff’s Facebook post, meanwhile, hasn’t deterred everyone from putting campaign signs in their yards. Smith said the county party buys batches of 200 signs at a time, but that’s not enough. Signs supporting Senator Sherrod Brown, signs for local candidates, and No. 1 to end gerrymandering are difficult to keep in stock.

“They’re flying off the shelves,” Smith said.

Amanda Suffecool, chair of the Portage County Republican Party, said Portage County will welcome the DOJ observers, but she doesn’t think they will find anything.

“It is our understanding that no one, to date, has been charged with any criminal offense relating to voter intimidation,” she said. “The vague accusations made by people attempting to influence the election are unfortunate. As the Republican Party, we look forward to new, fair elections in Portage County.”

Alaska, Arizona, Texas and other states are more familiar with DOJ voting monitoring.

For example, before and during the November 2022 general election, the DOJ sent poll observers to 64 jurisdictions in 24 U.S. states.

Yet only one of them was in Ohio: Cuyahoga County, Ohio’s second-largest county.

It was unclear whether DOJ observers plan to monitor Cuyahoga this year, but they will face very different demographics monitoring Portage County.

Cuyahoga County is home to about 1.2 million residents, a reliable stronghold of the Democratic Party. According to the U.S. Census, about 60% of residents are white, about 30% are black, and the rest are Asian, Latino, or mixed race.

Portage County, meanwhile, is tiny in comparison. It is home to approximately 162,000 inhabitants and is Republican in leaning. About 140,000 residents are white, about 8,000 black, and the rest of mixed and other races.

The Associated Press previously reported that federal election observers are “typically attorneys in the department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorneys’ offices across the United States.”

The attorneys are in regular communication with election officials in the locations they survey and watch for signs of disruption to voters’ ability to vote, the Associated Press reported.

DOJ election monitoring has intensified in recent years due to former President Donald Trump’s continued false claims about U.S. elections.

After Trump’s defeat in 2020, his supporters launched a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Nonpartisan election experts have warned that a new wave of election falsehoods and conspiracies this year has only increased.

One of the biggest myths this year is that non-U.S. citizens are voting — and that they’re voting in such large numbers that they could swing the election.

This is not true.

Not only is it illegal for non-US citizens to vote, it is illegal for them to even register to vote.

And analyzes from the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice and the right-leaning Heritage Foundation agree that non-U.S. citizens voting are rare.

Brennan reviewed 23.5 million votes cast in 2016 and found about 30 incidents of alleged non-citizen voting, or 0.0001% of the vote.

The Heritage Foundation, meanwhile, maintains a database of election fraud cases brought by prosecutors across the country. This shows that there have been 85 cases.

It’s unclear what impact rhetoric around non-citizen voting or other false narratives might have on voters or election workers here or across the country.

But DOJ officials said anyone wishing to report voter intimidation in Portage County or file a complaint about any other possible violations of federal voting rights laws can contact them online at www.civilrights.justice .gov or by phone at 800-253-. 3931. Details on the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws can be found here: www.justice.gov/crt/voting-section.

Journalists Diane Smith and Alisson Toro-Lagos contributed to this report.

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