Illegal voter registration forms in Haitian Creole distributed by library in Springfield, Ohio

Illegal voter registration forms for Haitian Creole speakers were distributed by the Clark County Public Library near Springfield, Ohio. This comes after there has been heightened concern over the mass influx of Haitian immigrants into the small Ohio city.

The Ohio Secretary of State announced in a press release that an investigation has uncovered "the use of illegal voter registration forms by a government agency."

"The office’s Election Integrity Unit recently concluded an investigation into the origins of an illegal voter registration form translated into the Haitian Creole language. The Clark County Board of Elections reported this form to our office after rejecting its submission by a local applicant" the press release stated.

Secretary LaRose reminded election officials to be vigilant in concerns over potential voter fraud as the voter registration forms could have allowed for noncitizen Haitians to possibly vote in the upcoming 2024 election. "This is a reminder to all of our elections officials to be vigilant as we enter the final weeks of voter registration eligibility for the 2024 general election."

“We’re continuing to aggressively pursue third-party groups and paid canvassers who’ve been submitting fraudulent registration forms, and we’re cracking down on the use of illegal forms that aren’t authorized by my office as the law requires. These investigations are happening even as we continue to broaden the enforcement of Ohio’s constitutional citizenship voting requirement," LaRose said.

One of the forms had been submitted by a local applicant and was recently thrown out which led to the subsequent investigation into the forms in Haitian Creole.

Hun Yi, the Director of Investigations for the office’s Public Integrity Division told elections officials in a memo, "The form was erroneously included among others outsourced to a foreign language translation service. It garnered national attention considering the high number of Haitian refugees that have recently migrated to the Springfield area, and it serves as an important reminder that boards and designated voter registration agencies should be vigilant about the use of forms submitted to their office."