Franklin County's prosecutor says seven people have been indicted on charges they voted illegally because they weren't citizens.
County prosecutor Ron O'Brien, a Republican, says the seven registered and voted in the county that includes the city of Columbus during elections in 2012, 2015 and 2016. Those cases were referred to a grand jury, which indicted them for counts of illegal voting and/or false voter registration.
For perspective, Franklin County saw 593,435 ballots cast in the 2016 general election, and has a total of 843,432 registered voters as of Nov. 8, 2016.
O'Brien says his office also investigated several non-citizens who registered and voted but had also checked a box on a questionnaire indicating they were not citizens.
“It is illegal for people to register and vote if they are not United States citizens," O'Brien said in a statement.
O'Brien says those individuals weren't prosecuted but were removed from the voter rolls.
The prosecutor investigated the allegations along with the Ohio Secretary of State and the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Arraignment is scheduled for September 27 for the seven indicted cases.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has previously stated that voter fraud is rare.
