COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Voter advocacy organizations have put Ohio's Republican elections chief on notice that voters are being systematically removed from the rolls in several counties in alleged violation of federal law.
A letter sent Thursday to Secretary of State Frank LaRose, just days ahead of Ohio's Monday registration deadline, said the manner in which batches of voters suspected of having moved out of state are being systematically removed — based on challenges by third-party groups with no direct knowledge of a voter's situation — is illegal.
The Ohio chapters of Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, represented by the ACLU and the Brennan Center for Justice in Washington, D.C., urged LaRose to restore the registrations within 20 days or they may sue. LaRose's office is reviewing the request.
The voter advocates cite public records, including minutes of county election board meetings, voter challenge materials and other communications, showing mass removals in Delaware, Muskingum, probably Logan and possibly Cuyahoga counties. The latter is home to Cleveland, a Democratic stronghold.
The National Voter Registration Act prohibits the systematic removal of names from voter rolls 90 days before a federal election. It also requires election officials to notify voters when their registrations are in danger of lapsing, and provides a four-year window for remedying the situation.
In their letter, the advocates cited recently issued U.S. Justice Department guidance making clear that a person can only be removed from the rolls for a change of residency under two circumstances: if the voter submits a written address change, or if a flagged registration has met all federal notice and waiting period requirements.
Dan Lusheck, a spokesperson for LaRose's office, said an Ohio law in place for nearly 20 years expressly permits voter challenges to be made until 30 days before an election. However, that law applies only to challenges involving individual voters, not systematic removals.
LaRose's office said the secretary cast a tie vote Wednesday against sustaining most of the Delaware County registration challenges. Lusheck said the office would review the groups' claims involving the other three counties.
Conservative groups across the country have been systematically challenging the legitimacy of large numbers of voter registrations this year. Democrats have alleged in court filings that it's a coordinated effort to cause the American electorate to question the results of the 2024 presidential election, as former President Donald Trump repeatedly claims, without evidence that his opponents are trying to cheat.
In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, ordered a suburban Detroit election clerk to reinstate the registrations of about 1,000 people removed after a third-party effort. And in Alabama last week, the Justice Department sued the state and its top election official, alleging that Alabama illegally purged voters too close to the November election.
The voter advocates provided several examples of what is happening around Ohio.
In Delaware County's fast-growing suburbs north of Columbus, the elections board in August granted at least 84 third-party challenges — and potentially hundreds more — based on voters' purported changes of residence. The advocates said there was no evidence that the affected voters had been communicated with directly, as required.
About a dozen similar removals were carried out in Muskingum County, in eastern Ohio, at two challenge hearings in July, the advocates wrote, where challenges had been brought by third-party groups, such as Check My Vote and The People's Audit. The advocates told LaRose that there is no evidence that the county first complied with the federally required notice and waiting period procedures. Similar removals appear to have taken place in Logan County, in southern Ohio, in June, they found.
In the letter announcing his tie-breaking Delaware County vote, LaRose said a total of about 300 registrations were challenged because voters had moved out of state. He noted that those shown to have registered or voted in North Carolina — 60 or so people — were removed in a bipartisan vote. But LaRose said he “unfortunately” had to oppose sustaining challenges to the remaining 240 due to a lack of “clear and convincing” proof that they had subsequently registered and/or voted in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee or Texas.
“Let me state clearly that I commend the citizens who are passionate enough about the integrity of our elections to crowdsource the veracity of our voter rolls,” LaRose wrote. “Their civic engagement must be applauded, and I share their commitment to honest and accurate elections.”
FILE - Ohio Secretary of State and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Frank LaRose speaks to supporters during a campaign event in Hamilton, Ohio, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell will lead the Los Angeles Police Department, taking charge of the force of nearly 9,000 officers as discontent grows among the city's residents over public safety even as violent crime numbers drop, the mayor announced Friday.
Mayor Karen Bass, who had the final say after a civilian board of Los Angeles police commissioners vetted McDonnell, said her selection of a veteran law enforcement officer was based on a need to reduce crime and make every neighborhood safer. Bass met with hundreds of LAPD officers and community leaders before making her decision.
The pick ended debate over whether Bass would choose an “insider” or “outsider” who would shake things up and challenge the way things were done within the department’s insular culture.
“From the beginning, I have been clear: My top priority as mayor is to ensure that Angelenos and our neighborhoods are safer today than yesterday,” Bass said. “Chief McDonnell is a leader, an innovator, and a change maker, and I am looking forward to working with him to grow and strengthen LAPD.”
The incoming chief will have to make sure the department is ready for the additional security challenges of the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.
McDonnell was elected LA County Sheriff in 2014 to oversee the largest sheriff’s department in the U.S. Before that, he spent 29 years in the LAPD and served as Long Beach’s police chief for almost five years.
McDonnell vowed to enhance public safety, grow back the force that has shrunk from about 10,000 officers in 2019, and “ensure respectful and constitutional policing practices.”
McDonnell, 65, said he was happy to come out of retirement to do the job.
“I feel like I still have gas in the tank, fire in the belly, if you will, and a desire to be able to try and be helpful," he said.
The appointment follows the surprise retirement of Chief Michel Moore in early 2024. Moore’s tenure was marked by greater scrutiny into excessive force and police killings of civilians in the nation’s second-largest city. Dominic Choi has led the department as interim chief — and the first Asian American chief — since March 2024. Bass thanked Choi for his work, and said he will continue to serve as assistant chief under McDonnell.
Some had hoped Bass would use the opportunity to make history and fill the post with the first Latino or female chief. The LAPD has had two Black male chiefs in the past. McDonnell is white.
The other two candidates sent to Bass, who made the final selection, were Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides, a Black woman, and former Assistant Chief Robert “Bobby” Arcos, who is Latino. Both were reported by the Los Angeles Times as finalists for the position.
Bass said she has been a champion of inclusion for her whole career.
“I think there’s work that needs to be done in the LAPD,” Bass said. “I will continue to pay attention to representation particularly with the Latino population which we know is half of the city of Los Angeles.”
The LAPD has faced criticism through the years over its response to the George Floyd protests and several high-profile shootings by officers. It has struggled to get rid of bad cops while also struggling to recruit as more officers leave its ranks than are coming in.
The police officers' union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, applauded the mayor's choice.
“Her selection of former County Sheriff Jim McDonnell as the next chief of police confirms the mayor’s commitment to improve historic lows in officer staffing and officer morale and to fix LAPD’s broken discipline process," the organization said in a statement. “We have every confidence in Chief McDonnell’s ability to hit the ground running to improve public safety in Los Angeles and to appoint an upper command staff that will do away with the status quo and turn a new page for the LAPD.”
John Sullivan, who retired as a lieutenant in 2018 after 30 years at the county sheriff's department, called McDonnell a “hybrid” in the insider-outsider debate.
“He grew up in the organization, he knows the organization ... but he’s also been the chief of a separate department, and he’s also been sheriff,” Sullivan said. McDonnell would bring a “fresh set of eyes” to the LAPD's problems while understanding the concerns of the rank-and-file.
At the LAPD, McDonnell held every rank from police officer to second-in-command under former LAPD chief Bill Bratton. During that time, he helped implement a federal consent decree imposed on the department largely as a result of the Rampart scandal, a corruption case involving rampant misconduct within the anti-gang unit.
When he was elected county sheriff, he inherited a department in the wake of a jail abuse corruption scandal that led to convictions against his predecessor, Lee Baca, and more than 20 other officials. Members of a civilian watchdog commission applauded McDonnell for embracing federal mandates for jail reform, including improving de-escalation training and better documentation of the use of force that has led to improved jail conditions, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In 2022, he joined the University of Southern California as director of the Safe Communities Institute, which conducts research on public safety solutions.
McDonnell also served on an advisory committee to USC's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies, a U.S. Homeland Security department-funded institution to do research on counterterrorism, according to Sullivan. His experience with studying international security threats could be an asset as police chief.
“We have really large public events that are coming that could well be terrorist targets," Sullivan said, referring to the World Cup and Olympics. "The war in Gaza, the brewing war in south Lebanon, all that's going to have echoes or ripples here in Los Angeles.”
Newly appointed Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell listens during a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, and newly appointed police chief Jim McDonnell share a light moment during a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, and newly appointed police chief Jim McDonnell, center, arrive for a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Newly appointed Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell listens to questions from the media during a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, and newly appointed police chief Jim McDonnell shake hands during a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, introduces newly appointed police chief Jim McDonnell during a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, left, and newly appointed police chief Jim McDonnell listen to questions from the media during a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Newly appointed Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell attends a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Newly appointed Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
