Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Tuesday the indictment of six individuals living in Ohio for alleged illegal voting … in elections dating as far back as 2008.

Ramesh Patel, 68, of North Royalton, was indicted in Cuyahoga County on one count of illegal voting for allegedly voting in 2014, 2016 and 2018 while lacking U.S. citizenship. Lorinda Miller, 78, of Hudson, was indicted in Summit County on two counts of illegal voting for allegedly voting in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 while lacking U.S. citizenship. Nicholas Fontaine, 32, of Kent, was indicted in Portage County on one count of illegal voting for allegedly voting in 2016 and 2018 while lacking U.S. citizenship.

And in Franklin County, Ahmed Aden, 35, of Columbus, was indicted on one count of illegal voting for allegedly voting in 2008 and 2020; Van Thuy Cooper, 53, of Hilliard, was indicted on one count of illegal voting for allegedly voting in 2016 and 2020; and Maria Dearaujo, 62, of Columbus, was indicted on one count of illegal voting for allegedly voting in 2016 and 2018. All three lacked U.S. citizenship.

Certainly, the attorney general’s office is to be commended for doing its job in ensuring Ohio’s elections are fraud-free. But readers cannot help but wonder, if these incidents stretch back 16 years, and in all cases were repeat offenses, why did it take until two weeks before the 2024 general election to indict the alleged offenders? Who wasn’t doing his or her job, if alleged offenders managed to pull this off as many as four times?

Buckeye State residents will recall Yost was among those who urged the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a lawsuit filed by GOP state attorneys general in an attempt to invalidate Electoral College votes after the 2020 election. He is not above stoking doubt about the fairness and legality of an election.

Ohioans must therefore seize on his words as part of the indictment announcement:

“Irregularities like this are rare, and this is a small number of cases,” Yost said. “We should all be confident in the upcoming election, knowing that the laws are being enforced and will continue to be enforced.”

Remember that.

And remember that Yost’s “rare” and “small” announcement provides an important reminder to watch for the timing of such attention-grabbing efforts by politicians — particularly those hoping to snag your vote Nov. 5. Voters

beware.