A Shaker Heights attorney convicted of casting ballots in both Ohio and Florida during two separate general elections has now lost his law license entirely. The Ohio Supreme Court suspended James Saunders, 60, after he failed to respond to a disciplinary complaint stemming from his felony election-fraud convictions, and ordered him to immediately stop practicing law, representing clients in court, giving legal advice or performing any other legal services.
A Bar Complaint Saunders Never Answered
According to Cleveland.com, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association filed the disciplinary complaint against Saunders, arguing his convictions violated professional conduct rules requiring Ohio attorneys to obey the law and avoid conduct that reflects poorly on their fitness to practice. Saunders never responded, and a disciplinary board certified a default to the state supreme court, which then imposed the suspension. Saunders had previously worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service, per the same report, and Cleveland.com has noted in prior reporting that he made donations to Donald Trump’s campaigns and Republican political organizations.
The case traces back to a bench trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on July 12, 2023; Judge Andrew Santoli found Saunders guilty on August 22, 2023, on two felony counts of illegal voting. Court records reviewed by CourtListener show the trial court found Saunders guilty on both counts as charged, each a fourth-degree felony. Those convictions centered on ballots cast in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and Broward County, Florida, during the 2020 and 2022 general elections.
How the Double Voting Happened
Court documents cited by FindLaw, quoting the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals, lay out the timeline: Saunders cast an early in-person vote in Ohio on October 21, 2020, then voted in person again in Broward County, Florida, on November 3, 2020. Two years later, he voted by mail in Broward County and in person in Shaker Heights during the November 2022 general election, the same court record shows.
At trial, Saunders’s assistant public defender, Scott Hurley, told the judge the double voting was a mistake, arguing his client had owned property and been registered to vote in both states for years. Prosecutor Andrew Rogalski countered that voting twice in consecutive general elections undercut any claim the conduct was accidental. Judge Santoli sided with the prosecution, saying an enhanced sentence was warranted because Saunders was an attorney and should have known better.
Sentence Overturned, Then Revised Again
Santoli initially sentenced Saunders to two consecutive 18-month prison terms, an aggregate of three years, according to court records on CourtListener. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office separately reported that Saunders was sentenced to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine for voting twice in both the 2020 and 2022 elections, as stated in a release from the office…