Potential election fraud found in Mahoning County

YOUNGSTOWN — While there are accusations of large-scale election fraud across the nation, there are about 60 potential cases of it in Mahoning County.

Most of the problems are registration forms submitted with forged signatures and incorrect Social Security numbers of those who are already registered to vote, said Joyce Kale-Pesta, the county board of elections deputy director.

“The signatures aren’t even close,” she said. “It looks like someone took some names out of the phone book.”

The board has the names of those who submitted the questionable forms. Kale-Pesta didn’t know if the registration forms were submitted as part of an effort by a particular organization.

Also, the board received 14 returned forms it mailed to people who had asked for absentee ballots, she said. The forms were returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable, Kale-Pesta said.

All of the questionable forms were sent to the county sheriff’s office for investigation, but any prosecution would come after Tuesday’s election, she said.

For more on this complete story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com