COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Seventeen noncitizens votedillegally in battleground Ohio in the 2012
presidential election year,and an additional 274 were registered but did not vote, the state’selections
chief said Wednesday.Secretary of State Jon Husted saidhe was able to identify non-U.S. citizens on Ohio’s
voter rolls for thefirst time through the matching of voter records and license and IDinformation kept by
the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles."None of mypredecessors attempted to investigate or answer the
noncitizen questionbecause they couldn’t," he said at a news conference. "Informationabout
citizenship (kept by the bureau) and the elections system were notdesigned to work together."Husted
emphasized that none of theidentified cases involved immigrants who were in the country illegally.In the
most egregious case, a noncitizen who was in the country legallyhad been voting in Ohio — which is against
the law — since 1993.Resultsof the review will be turned over to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWinefor
possible prosecution. Husted said he also will give those identifiedthe chance to cancel their
registrations.He said the review confirmed earlier indications that voter fraud exists but is rare.Inthe
wake of the findings, Husted urged passage of a bill before fellowRepublicans in the state Legislature that
would allow online voterregistration.A message seeking comment was left with a spokesman for the Ohio
Senate, where a bill introduced in August remains in committee.Onlinevoter registration would help avoid
future instances of noncitizensvoting, Husted said. He also has backed such a system as a way toimprove
voter access and save the state money.He said Wednesdaythat a driver’s license number provided at the time
of registrationcould quickly be matched to Bureau of Motor Vehicles records to checkcitizenship
status.Online registration was part of an electionbill in 2011 but was later repealed. Ohio residents can’t
registeronline to vote, but under changes Husted made last year they can updatetheir
addresses.___Online:Ohio Secretary of State: http://www.sos.state.oh.usCopyright 2013 The
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