Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office reported delays in returning collected voter-registration forms by Field Forward Ohio (identified as Black Fork Strategies LLC under another name), prompting a request for federal review by the U.S. attorney's office and FBI in the Northern District of Ohio. Officials said the group delivered thousands of forms to Hamilton County, with some arriving after Ohio's Oct. 5 registration cutoff and others exceeding the separate 10-day collector return deadline.

Ohio law treats these deadlines differently: missing the collector return window can carry criminal penalties, while an applicant's eligibility depends on when officials actually received the form. Existing registered voters who moved or changed names retain provisional-ballot options through Election Day, Nov. 3. No wrongdoing or voter harm has been established.

Cuyahoga County, Ohio election records show that officials accepted provisional ballots from nine voters in the November 2022 election after voter-registration organization Black Fork Strategies submitted forms that changed addresses without voters' knowledge. Officials verified the ballots by matching signatures against older registration records, and two additional voters had addresses corrected before voting early. The county board referred the matter to the Ohio secretary of state's office in 2023.

The issue has resurfaced after Secretary of State Frank LaRose asked the FBI and federal prosecutors to investigate new allegations that Black Fork, also known as Field Forward Ohio, submitted thousands of registration forms late in Summit and Hamilton counties ahead of a recent deadline.

Ohio Democrats head into this year's elections with what analysts call their best shot in years to break the GOP's grip on statewide offices, though Republicans retain a clear structural advantage. Separately, a new state law requires mailed absentee ballots to reach county election offices by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day with no grace period, prompting Secretary of State Frank LaRose to urge voters to use drop boxes or deliver ballots in person. The Ohio Auditor's office also took its web systems offline after a cyberattack possibly involving foreign actors, though officials say no financial data appears compromised. LaRose separately sought a federal probe into a voter-registration group's activity in Cuyahoga County.

One week before Election Day, 68% of Ohio's absentee ballots have already been returned, putting the state on pace for a potential record in early and absentee voting for a gubernatorial election, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Isolated voter concerns, such as a Franklin County voter who found her governor selection missing from a review screen, have not been reproduced by election officials, who attribute such incidents to human error rather than systemic issues. LaRose's office has also worked with AI platforms to correct inaccurate information about Ohio voting rules. The Justice Department plans to send federal observers to three Ohio counties on Election Day as part of a larger nationwide deployment.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is urging roughly 235,000 voters who still have absentee ballots to drop them off at their county board of elections rather than mail them, citing postal delays. Under a new state law, absentee ballots must reach county boards by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day; previously, ballots postmarked by the day before the election could arrive up to four days late and still count. Voters can track mailed ballots online, and anyone whose ballot doesn't arrive in time can cast a provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day, which will be counted if the absentee ballot never arrives.

Election offices in more than two dozen states, plus numerous members of Congress, have received suspicious letters containing a white powdery substance in the days before the midterms. Tennessee, Ohio, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Oregon officials reported intercepted or opened packages, some prompting evacuations and hazmat responses; preliminary tests have found no hazardous material. Affected lawmakers include Sens. Alex Padilla, Ted Cruz, Amy Klobuchar and Chris Murphy, and several California representatives. The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Capitol Police are investigating. Election official associations condemned the threats. Similar mailings targeted officials ahead of the 2024 election and in 2023, when some contained traces of fentanyl.