County elections officials say they think a clerical error is to blame for 19 Columbus police officers having their voting addresses listed as the Downtown police headquarters. Workers at the Franklin County Board of Elections earlier this year discovered voters who had registered their voting address as the police building on Marconi Boulevard. The registrations were caught as workers scoured the voting rolls for nonresidential addresses at the direction of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted. Husted isn’t particularly concerned about police officers registering their work addresses, spokesman Matt McClelland said. Instead, he wants local election officials to find out if people are registering the addresses of Federal Express or United Parcel Service offices where they might keep a mailbox, or other means of masking their home address.
McClellan said several county boards across the state contacted the office earlier this year to report finding people registered at mailbox businesses, which prompted the statewide review. The office asked boards to compile a database of all such businesses in their counties and to cross-check those addresses against voter rolls.
He said the number of Ohioans registered to vote at a business address is not available because county boards still are gathering and reviewing the information.
Registering an address other than the residential address where you live is voting fraud and a felony that can be punished by a year in prison.
However, Ben Piscitelli, spokesman for the county board, said Columbus police officers don’t have to worry that their names will be forwarded to the county prosecutor’s office for possible investigation.
Full Article: Officers’ voting address: Police HQ | The Columbus Dispatch.