COLUMBUS, Ohio – Elections officials have asked the Union County Sheriff’s Office to launch a criminal investigation into an organization that circulated petitions on behalf of a liquor permit request by a Marysville Kroger store, Sheriff Jamie Patton said Friday.
The organization, known as The Strategy Network is accused of forging the names of voters on two petitions circulated in July in an attempt to get the issue on the November ballot.
The grocery chain is not suspected of any wrongdoing and Patton says the retailer appears to have been unaware of the organization’s actions.
According to Patton, workers for The Strategy Network forged the signatures of voters from Marysville’s 8th precinct, where Kroger was seeking to relocate a liquor store from its W. 5th Street site.
Elections officials spotted the forgeries, Patton says, and the issue will not be on the ballot.
Patton says voters whose names were forged will be contacted.