Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Secretary of State’s Anti-Ballot Harvesting Directive

Frank LaRose

The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the secretary of state’s directive preventing ballot harvesting, ruling that its challengers filed their suit too late.

In August, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) issued a directive stating that ballot drop boxes outside county boards of elections can only be used by voters dropping off their own ballots, Dayton Daily News reported. Anyone returning a ballot for a family member or disabled voter is required to enter county boards of elections offices and fill out an attestation form stating that they are following the law.

Read the full story

Secretary of State LaRose Warns Ohio Election Officials of Potential Voting Violations

Ohio Sec State Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose wants county election officials to be on the lookout for illegal voter registration forms after his office discovered one.

LaRose said a voter registration form translated into the Haitian Creole language was found in Clark County, the home of Springfield. The Clark County Board of Elections reported the form and rejected the local applicant.

Read the full story

LaRose Wants Attorney General to Prosecute Voting Violations

LaRose says he has sent evidence of more than 600 election law violations to county prosecutors since 2019 that have not been pursued.

“Unfortunately, many of these referrals have not been pursued by law enforcement, sometimes by choice and other times due to limited prosecutorial capacity,” LaRose said. “State law gives the attorney general the authority to take up these referrals if the prosecuting attorney doesn’t prosecute the violations within a reasonable time. The only way to maintain Ohio’s high standard of election integrity is to enforce the law whenever it’s broken.”

Read the full story

Ballot Drop Box Battles: States, Municipalities Seek to Ban Them as November Election Nears

Drop Box Sign

Two months out from Election Day and less than two weeks before early voting begins, states and municipalities are fighting over whether to implement ballot drop boxes, amid election integrity and practical concerns.

Ballot drop boxes, a method of voting that became more widespread during the 2020 presidential election as COVID-19 lockdowns continued, are facing a pushback in several municipalities and states ahead of the November election.

Read the full story

Ohio Secretary of State Refers Evidence of Noncitizen Voter Registrations for Potential Prosecution

Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Wednesday that he has formally referred evidence of noncitizen voter registrations to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost for further review and potential prosecution as a result of his office’s ongoing effort to strengthen election integrity ahead of the November 5 general election.

“I’m duty-bound to make sure people who haven’t yet earned citizenship in this country do not vote in our elections,” LaRose said in a statement.

Read the full story

LaRose Wants Democrats to Stop Blaming Ohio for Virtual Roll Call

Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose wants Democrats to stop blaming Ohio for the party’s plan to use a virtual roll call to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as its presidential nominee.

In a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harris released Thursday, LaRose demanded the party stop using the state’s ballot access deadline to justify what he called a nominating scheme.

Read the full story

DNC to Nominate Biden Virtually Before Convention amid Ohio Ballot Drama

Joe Biden

The Democratic National Committee plans to nominate President Joe Biden virtually before the party convention amid the Ohio state legislature’s deadlock over a bill that would allow him to appear on the November ballot.

The Democratic National Convention, where the party usually chooses its nominee, is scheduled for Aug. 19-22. However, Ohio’s deadline for political parties to certify their nominee is 90 days before the general election, which is Aug. 7 this year.

Read the full story

Ohio Secretary of State Orders Removal of Non-Citizens from State Voter Rolls

Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) ordered the removal of non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls after more than 100 were found registered despite confirming their lack of U.S. citizenship.

On Tuesday, LaRose directed all 88 counties to begin a removal process for non-citizens on Ohio’s voter rolls following a review by his office’s Public Integrity Division and Office of Data Analytics and Archives. The review analyzed data from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) and found 137 voter registrations of non-citizens who had twice confirmed their lack of U.S. citizenship.

Read the full story

Ohio Secretary of State’s Office Launches Initiative to Prepare Election Officials for the November Election

Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced a new statewide initiative his office will facilitate to ensure election officials are “trained and prepared” for the November general election.

The Ready for November initiative will “offer a series of collaborative training opportunities between Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections and the Secretary of State’s elections, public integrity and communications staff,” according to LaRose’s office.

Read the full story

Bryan Quigley: Ohio U.S. Senate GOP Primary Is a ‘Flip the Coin Election’ Where ‘Every Vote is Going to Count’

Political pundit Bryan Quigley said Tuesday’s GOP U.S. Senate primary in Ohio will be a toss-up race where “every vote is going to count.”

Three Republican candidates – businessman Bernie Moreno, Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls), and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose – are competing for the GOP nomination on Tuesday to face off with incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown in the November general election.

Read the full story

Matt Dolan Maintains Lead in Ohio U.S. Senate GOP Primary Race, New Poll Shows

Matt Dolan, Frank LaRose, Bernie Moreno

A poll conducted by East Carolina University’s Center for Survey Research published on Friday reveals how likely voters in Ohio would vote in the 2024 U.S. Senate race.

In the Republican primary election, the poll shows Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) with a 2-point lead over businessman Bernie Moreno and a 10-point lead over Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Read the full story

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Losing Ground Against Republican Challengers: Poll

Ohio Senate Candidates

Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown’s lead over his three Republican challengers has narrowed since November anywhere from 2 to 8 points, according to a Thursday poll.

Brown was leading businessman Bernie Moreno by 10 points, Secretary of State Frank LaRose by 5 points and state Sen. Matt Dolan by 3 points in Emerson College’s last poll on the Ohio Senate race. The senator is now ahead of Dolan by only 1 point and has a 2-point advantage over both Moreno and LaRose for potential head-to-head general election matchups, according to Emerson College’s January survey.

Read the full story

Unmasking DeWine: Ohio Journalist Jack Windsor Dissects Shocking Veto and Its Potential Ripple Effect on 2024 Senate Race

Ohio journalist and entrepreneur Jack Windsor joined host Michael Patrick Leahy on Monday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report to discuss the connections and divides behind the shocking decision by Governor Mike DeWine to veto measure that would prohibit genital mutilation of children and transgender males competing in girls’ sports. Windsor unveils the deep ties between the Buckeye State governor and the “medical industrial complex,” and how this particular veto – perhaps unbeknownst to DeWine – could influence the 2024 elections in Ohio. The Ohio Press Network journalist then breaks down the hotly contested republican nomination race for U.S. Senate to see who will face long time incumbent Sherrod Brown. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: 12:33 p.m., broadcasting live from our studios in downtown Nashville on Monday, January 1st, 2024. We are broadcasting live. We’re the only talk station talk show in Nashville broadcasting live today. Another hard worker is our very good friend formerly with The Ohio Star now with the Ohio Press Network and the host of his own program in Columbus Ohio, our good friend, Mr. Jack Windsor. Jack, thanks for joining us. Jack Windsor: Michael, it’s great to be with you. Happy New Year. And thanks for allowing…

Read the full story

Emerson Poll: Trump Up in Ohio, Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown Leads All GOP Challengers

Emerson College Polling and WJW-TV Fox 8 Cleveland published results of a poll on Thursday revealing how likely voters in Ohio would vote in the 2024 presidential and Senate race.

In the 2024 presidential election, the poll shows former President Donald Trump with a 12-point lead (50 percent-38 percent) over incumbent President Joe Biden in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup in the Buckeye State while 12 percent of voters remain undecided.

Read the full story

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Term ‘Unborn Child’ Can Remain on Abortion Ballot Measure

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the term “unborn child” could remain in an abortion amendment set to go on the ballot in November after activists filed a lawsuit over the language.

The state’s ballot board, which includes Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted 3-2 in August that the term “fetus” should be changed to “unborn child” in order to give voters a clearer understanding of the ramifications of the amendment, which would make abortion a constitutional right in the state. In response, Ohioans for Reproductive Rights (ORR) filed a lawsuit days later, arguing the board was ignoring rules that required the language to “not ‘mislead, deceive, or defraud’ voters, but the state Supreme Court determined that the use of the term “unborn child” could stay in, noting that even the plaintiffs did not argue it was “factually inaccurate.”

Read the full story

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose Jumps Into Race to Unseat Dem Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024

Frank LaRose

Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced a run for Senate on Monday to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024, according to a campaign launch video.

LaRose enters a growing GOP primary field where he will face businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan, who both unsuccessfully ran for Senate during the 2022 midterms. The secretary of state touched on issues he feels plague the country, like parental rights in education, the border crisis and inflation, when announcing his run for Senate, according to a Twitter video.

Read the full story

Ohio Republicans Introduce Bill Codifying Election Integrity Office

Republicans in the Ohio Legislature are working to pass a law codifying the election-integrity office whose creation Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) announced last year. 

LaRose declared last October he would set up the Public Integrity Division in his office to improve the security, accuracy and accessibility of elections in the Buckeye State. The new department consolidates heretofore separate divisions dealing with campaign-finance administration, voter registration, election investigations and cybersecurity.

Read the full story

Leftists Sue Ohio Secretary of State Over New Voter ID Law

Attorneys for the Elias Law Group announced over the weekend they are representing several left-leaning institutions seeking to nix Ohio’s new law requiring voters to show photo identification to participate in an election. 

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans and the Union Veterans Council are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R). The firm working the case is headed by Marc Elias who has handled cases for Democrats in the 2020 presidential contest and numerous other national elections. 

Read the full story

Ohio Secretary of State Reports 630 Cases of Potential Voter Fraud During His Administration So Far

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) reported on Friday that his office discovered 630 cases of possible criminal voter fraud since he took office four years ago.

Incidents include 510 cases of potential voting by noncitizens, 97 instances of people possibly voting in more than one state and 23 allegations of election fraudsters using dead persons’ registrations. The department referred all of these cases to law enforcement, according to LaRose’s Year in Review 2022 newsletter.

Read the full story

Ohio Elections Commission To Look Into Evidence Against Blystone Instead of Settling

The Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) announced last week it will hold a hearing on Thursday, January 5, 2023 to review evidence against former gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone concerning alleged campaign-finance violations. 

Charges against the Republican former hopeful include failure to report contributions from small-dollar backers and breach of rules regarding corporate donations. The onetime candidate was engaged in negotiations with Commission Executive Director Philip Richter, but some GOP members of the commission, including D. Michael Crites and Christina Hagan, reportedly insisted on continuing the probe to achieve full accountability. 

Read the full story

Ohio Election Day Roundup: Results for National Elected Offices, State Offices, and Statewide Ballot Issues

After a long campaign season for the Ohio midterm election, voting numbers from county boards of elections are pouring in and being added to the unofficial results on the Ohio Secretary of State’s Website.

According to the Ohio Secretary of State, results are unofficial until they have been reviewed and certified once the official canvass has been completed by November 29th.

Read the full story