RAVENNA, Ohio — The U.S. Department of Justice will send election monitors to an Ohio county where there was a sheriff recently accused of voter intimidation Federal officials made the announcement in a social media post on Tuesday.
The Justice Department said it will monitor Portage County’s compliance with federal voting rights laws during early voting and on Election Day. The agency said it regularly sends staff to counties across the U.S. to monitor compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act and other civil rights statutes related to elections and voting.
“Voters in Portage County have raised concerns about harassment resulting from the surveillance and collection of personal information about voters, as well as threats related to the election process,” the Department of Justice said in a news release.
The agency did not provide details.
Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, a Republican running for re-election, came under fire last month for a social media post in which he said people with Kamala Harris yard signs should write down their addresses so immigrants can be sent to them if the Democrat wins the presidency. He also compared people who were in the country illegally to “human locusts.”
The sheriff’s comment about Harris’ supporters — made on his personal Facebook account and his campaign’s account — sparked outrage among some Democrats who saw it as a threat. His supporters argued that he was making a political point about unbridled immigration and exercising his right to free speech.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio demanded Zuchowski remove the post and threatened to sue him, claiming he made an unconstitutional, “impermissible threat” against residents seeking to post political yard signs.
Zuchowski later removed the post.
The sheriff’s office said Tuesday that “DOJ’s monitoring of voting locations/polls is conducted nationwide and is not unique to Portage County. This is a normal practice at the DOJ.”
Sherry Rose, president of the League of Women Voters of Kent, a good-government group in Portage County, said she knows some voters have complained about Zuchowski to the Justice Department. She said she has seen “concerning rhetoric” on social media after the sheriff’s comments, and an increase in yard sign thefts, but that early voting itself has gone smoothly so far.
“We didn’t see any instances of intimidation during early voting, “so that bodes well,” Rose said. “So I think we want Portage County voters to feel confident in that voting system.”
Elsewhere in Ohio, a divided Supreme Court rejected demands from the Ohio Democratic Party on Tuesday challenge to a directive from Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose preventing the use of drop boxes by people who serve voters with disabilities.
The secretary issued his order after a federal judge was shot parts of Ohio sweeping election law of 2023 in July, allowing more classes of people to help voters with disabilities cast their ballots. LaRose’s order required such helpers to sign a certificate inside the elections office during operating hours.
The majority found that the plaintiffs had brought their challenge too close to the election. Judge Pierre Bergeron wrote in a dissent that LaRose’s rule “cruelly targets individuals who must necessarily rely on the help and mercy of others.”
LaRose called the move a precaution against “ballot harvesting.” He said in a statement Tuesday that he was “grateful that the court has allowed us to continue our efforts to protect the integrity of Ohio’s elections.”