Justice Department to monitor Ohio County vote after sheriff’s comment about Harris supporters | News, Sports, Jobs

FILE – People line up to vote early at the Portage County Board of Elections, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Ravenna, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, file)

RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice will send election observers to an Ohio county where a sheriff was recently accused of intimidating voters in a social media post, officials said Tuesday federal.

The Justice Department said it will monitor Portage County’s compliance with federal voting rights laws during early voting and on Election Day. The agency said it regularly sends staff to counties across the United States to monitor compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act and other civil rights laws related to elections and voting.

“Voters in Portage County have raised concerns about intimidation resulting from surveillance and collection of personal voter information, as well as threats regarding the election process,” the Department of Justice said in a press release.

The agency did not provide further details.

Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, a Republican running for re-election, was criticized for a social media post last month in which he said people carrying Kamala Harris signs should have their address written so that immigrants could be sent to live with them if the Democrat wins the presidency. He also compared people living in the country illegally to “human locusts.”

The sheriff’s comment about Harris supporters — made on his personal Facebook account and on his campaign account — sparked outrage among some Democrats who took it as a threat. His supporters argued he was making a political point about rampant immigration and exercising his right to free speech.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio demanded that Zuchowski remove the post and threatened to sue him, saying he made an unconstitutional “unconscionable threat” against residents who wanted to display political signs in the court.

Zuchowski later deleted the post.

The sheriff’s office said Tuesday that “DOJ monitoring of polling places/precincts is conducted nationally and is not unique to Portage County.” This is normal DOJ practice.

Sherry Rose, president of the League of Women Voters of Kent, a Portage County good-government group, said she knows some voters have complained about Zuchowski to the Justice Department. She said she saw “disturbing rhetoric” on social media after the sheriff’s comments and an increase in street sign thefts, but that early voting itself has gone smoothly so far.

“We haven’t seen any cases” of intimidation during early voting, “so that bodes well,” Rose said. “I think that’s where we want Portage County voters to have confidence in this election system.”

Elsewhere in Ohio, a divided Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Ohio Democratic Party’s challenge to a directive from Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose banning the use of drop boxes by people assisting voters with disabilities.

The secretary issued his order after a federal judge struck down parts of Ohio’s sweeping 2023 election law in July, allowing more classes of people to help voters with disabilities turn in their ballots. LaRose’s order required those aides to sign an attestation inside the board of elections office during business hours.

The majority said the plaintiffs brought their challenge too close to the election. Justice Pierre Bergeron wrote in dissent that the LaRose rule “cruelly targets people who must, by necessity, rely on the help and grace of others.”

LaRose called the move a precaution against “ballot harvesting.” He said in a statement Tuesday that he was “grateful that the court allowed us to continue our efforts to protect the integrity of Ohio’s elections.”