Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office has found 82 additional non-U.S. citizens who registered and voted in at least one election in Ohio.

Husted announced today that his office discovered a total of 385 non-citizens improperly registered in 2015, including those who voted.

Coupled with similar findings in 2013 and 2015, Husted reported a total of 821 non-citizens have been identified, with 126 of them having voted in the period.

While the numbers may look significant, a tiny percentage of those discovered in two previous inquiries were pursued and prosecuted for voter fraud.

Of 44 people referred for prosecution in two previous elections, Attorney General Mike DeWine's office said eight were prosecuted and five were convicted. one was reported to a diversion program, and the records were sealed in two cases so the disposition is not known.

Of five convictions, one person was fined $300 on a falsification charge and four were sentenced to community control. None received jail time.

The five convictions compare to more than 8.2 million combined votes cast in the 2012 and 2014 election cycles.

Another seven cases were found where the individual was not a citizen when they registered, but became a citizen by the time they cast their ballot. There were another 29 people investigated by the Bureau of Criminal Identification who county prosecuting attorneys declined to prosecute or were not indicted by a grand jury.

It is illegal for people to register and vote if they are not a citizen. The 82 people who voted will be referred to law enforcement for investigation and possible prosecution, Husted said. Fourteen of the improper ballots were cast in Franklin County.

“In light of the national discussion about illegal voting it is important to inform our discussions with facts," Husted said in a statement. "The fact is voter fraud happens, it is rare and when it happens, we hold people accountable."

President Donald Trump has claimed that about 3 million illegal immigrants cast ballots in the presidential election last year, accounting for his loss of the popular vote. The Republican has provided no substantitution for the claim, however.

Husted's office said the 303 registered voters identified who did not vote will be informed via letter that they are ineligible to vote and they should cancel their registration. If they do not act after a second notification, the matter will be referred to law enforcement. Husted's office is not permitted to remove the regisrations even they they are invalid.

Husted's office used information from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to find people who registered illegally. He said the number of non-citizens registered is likely to be larger.

“I have a responsibility to preserve the integrity of Ohio’s elections system,” he said. “When you consider that in Ohio we have had 112 elections decided by one vote or tied in the last three years, every case of illegal voting must be taken seriously and elections officials must have every resource available to them to respond accordingly.”

ajohnson@dispatch.com

@ohioaj