“From December 1, 2023, through July 22, 2024, in the city of Lebanon, defendant forged signatures on a petition filed with the Warren County Board of Elections,” a grand jury report released Monday read.
Elections Director Brian Sleeth said the petition was for the statewide redistricting issue rejected by Ohio voters in November.
Texas firm Advanced Micro Targeting paid local residents across the state to collect signatures of voters, he said. Most petitions were turned in locally without issue, but the petition reportedly circulated by Rouse raised suspicion.
The signatures did not match those on file and when contacted, the local voters said they did not sign the petition, Sleeth said. This led the agency to contact the Lebanon Police Department to investigate.
This news organization was unable to reach Rouse for comment.
The petition was for a constitutional amendment that would have created a bipartisan citizen-led redistricting commission to draw district boundaries. That effort came after the previous system resulted in the Ohio Supreme Court finding seven consecutive sets of legislative and congressional maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to benefit Republicans.
Voters statewide defeated the November ballot measure by a ratio of roughly 54% to 46%.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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