Woman Charged with Voting in Ohio and Florida
A former Geauga County resident is accused of casting a ballot in two states in the 2020 general election.
A former Geauga County resident is accused of casting a ballot in two states in the 2020 general election.
Ashley E. Gelman, 40, of Parkland, Fla., and formerly of Russell Township, has been indicted on one count each of illegal voting, a fourth-degree felony, and election falsification, a fifth-degree felony.
In October 2022, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose referred Gelman to Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for potential voter fraud violations. Through a joint partnership with several states, including Florida, LaRose’s office conducted a cross-match of Gelman’s voter history and subsequent investigation.
“As a result of this review at this time, my office identified one individual who appears to have voted in Geauga County, after casting a ballot in a different state in the same election,” LaRose wrote in an Oct. 17 letter to Flaiz, which included documentation from the state investigation.
According to state and local investigators, Gelman was a registered voter in Geauga County prior to the 2020 general election, but was living in Broward County, Fla. In July 2020, she requested Geauga County mail an absentee ballot to her Parkland, Fla., address. She received, completed and returned the absentee ballot to the Geauga County Board of Elections in mid-October, weeks prior to the Nov. 3, 2020, general election.
However, according to the Geauga County Auditor’s Office property records, Gelman and her husband, Robert, had sold their Shire Court home in Russell Township on March 2, 2020.
In September 2020, Gelman also had registered to vote in Florida and voted early and in person in Broward County on Oct. 30.
While LaRose said cases of election fraud and suppression are “exceedingly rare,” neither is acceptable, even in rare or isolated instances.
“The only way to continue this high standard of election integrity is by committing to enforce the law whenever evidence suggests it might’ve been broken,” LaRose wrote to Flaiz. “The legitimacy of our elections depends on the consistent enforcement of the laws governing them.”
Gelman is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 27, 2023, in the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas.
