A former staffer for a liberal-leaning voter advocacy group is facing dozens of felony charges accusing her of falsifying voter registration forms. For Ohio Public Radio, WKSU’s M.L. Schultze reports:
A Columbiana County grand jury indicted Rebecca Hammonds of East Liverpool after the Board of Elections spotted the names of dead people and an 11-year-old boy on the registrations she turned in last fall.
Laura Couch of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative says Hammonds was fired as soon as the problems surfaced and the elections board did its job in checking the registrations.
“A canvasser making up information on a card and turning it in, it’s irresponsible and we don’t stand for it, but that doesn’t constitute voter fraud. No one voted. Voter fraud is extremely rare. What is rampant are restrictions that some lawmakers have passed and are trying to pass to make it harder for people across the state and across the country to vote.”
Couch says her group tries to spot problems and alert boards of elections, but by law must turn in any registration cards it collects. Hammonds is facing as much as a year in prison on each count.
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