Ohio Republican Party Urges Voters to Bank Their Vote Ahead of Primary Election

People Voting

The Ohio Republican Party is urging GOP voters in the Buckeye State to participate in the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) new nationwide campaign focused on maximizing pre-Election Day voting.

The RNC’s Bank Your Vote campaign was created last year to “encourage, educate, and activate Republican voters on when, where, and how to lock in their votes as early as possible, through in-person early voting, absentee voting, and ballot harvesting where legal.”

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Ohio Coalition Resubmits Petition to End Qualified Immunity for Government Employees

A group of Ohioans wants to try yet again to change the state’s Constitution to permit lawsuits against government employees.

The amendment, aiming for the November 2024 presidential election, looks to add a Section 22 to Article I of the Ohio Constitution in order to end qualified immunity being used to protect state employees, including but not limited to law enforcement officers, against civil lawsuits.

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Bernie Moreno and Kari Lake Rally Ohio Republicans to Vote in Support of Issue 1

On Monday, Republican businessman and candidate for U.S. Senate Bernie Moreno and Arizona Republican politician and former candidate for Arizona Governor Kari Lake rallied Republicans to vote in support of Ohio State Issue on August 8th.

Moreno and Lake attended a county Republican rally in Cleveland in support of Ohio State Issue 1 to raise the threshold to amend the state constitution. They spoke to hundreds of voters at the Get Out the Vote Rise and Shine Rally at the Strongsville GOP in Parma.

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Ohio GOP Vice Chair Williams Announces Bid for Chair, Voices Concern About ‘Unlawful’ Vote Postponement

Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Vice Chairman Bryan Williams on Monday announced he will seek election as the committee’s chairman at a reorganization meeting to be held on September 9. 

It is widely anticipated within the party that incumbent Chairman Bob Paduchik will seek reelection as the ORP’s leader. Williams and other reform-minded conservatives close to the ORP anticipate, based on statements they say the’ve heard from Paduchik, that the chair will seek to defer the leadership elections to a meeting in January of next year, something party leaders have done in the past. 

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Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee Member Calls on Chair and Treasurer to Resign over Party Finances

An Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Central Committeeman sent an email to party associates on Monday calling on ORP Chairman Bob Paduchik and Treasurer David Johnson to resign.

Mark Bainbridge, an accountant who represents ORP’s State Central Committee District 16 and who has led the committee’s reform caucus, wrote that the state party has suffered a decline in net worth that is “shrouded in secrecy.” Specifically, he stated, ORP reported a net gain of $147,259 through 2021 when it allegedly should have reported a loss of $162,088. He concluded that $309,347 in net expenses are absent from the organization’s profit and loss statement and that ORP had equity totaling $2,568,530 at the end of 2021 compared with $2,730,618 at the end of 2020.

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U.S. House Hopeful Carey Sets Tele-Rally with Trump, Fairs as GOP Primary Hits Final Stretch

Mike Carey

U.S. House of Representatives candidate Mike Carey enters the last two weeks of his campaign for the GOP nomination to represent Ohio’s 15th congressional district playing his Trump card in a telephonic rally set for the early evening of July 20.

Carey, a leading contender to replace retired U.S. Representative Steve Stivers, will feature President Donald Trump as the headliner for the hour-long telephonic rally 14 days before the Aug. 3 special election. Those wishing to listen in to the call can sign up and receive instructions to access the rally at https://careyforcongress.com/trumpcall/.

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Ohio Republicans Move to Exempt Doctors from Providing Abortions on Religious Grounds

Image of a doctor's uniform

Ohio Republicans have added a provision to the state’s two year budget bill that would allow doctors and insurance providers to refuse to perform and pay for abortions if abortion violates their moral or religious beliefs. 

State Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) is responsible for the new language in the bill, according to The Columbus Dispatch. That language would also protect doctors and insurance companies from lawsuits by those to whom they  refuse service, the report said. 

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Ohio Secretary of State Restricts Ballot Drop Boxes, ACLU Vows to Fight

Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State is catching heat from liberal groups, despite allowing the state to proceed with absentee voting via drop boxes.

“Even though Ohio law does not explicitly provide for the use of secure receptacles, commonly known as ‘drop boxes,’ for an absentee voter to return their ballot to the director, this Directive, once again, provides for the continued use of secure receptacles outside of the boards of elections,” Frank LaRose (R) said in a February 12 directive. 

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Ohio Legislature Set to Begin New Year Under Even Stronger Republican Majority

The 2020 General Election added one additional Republican to the Ohio Senate and three additional Republicans to the Ohio House of Representatives.

Republicans now hold a 25-8 majority in the Senate and outnumber Democrats 64-35 in the House.

That increase in Republican lawmakers may spell hope for conservative Ohioans who are still hoping for legislation – for example, Senate Bill 311 – that restricts Governor Mike Dewine’s 11-month restriction reign ranging from the Arnold Classic to the requiring people be in a residence by 10:00 p.m.

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Ohio House Democrats Unveil Package of Gun-Control Laws

  Ohio House Democrats announced their plans Wednesday to introduce a package of gun-control laws in response to the so-called constitutional carry bill making its way through the committee process. As The Ohio Star previously reported, Republicans introduced a bill in March to bring constitutional carry to the Buckeye state, which would allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons without obtaining a permit. “Gun owners are law abiding citizens who follow the rules, and we need to let them be able to protect themselves,” Rep. Tom Brinkman (R-Mt. Lookout), a cosponsor of the bill, said at the time. Democrats called the bill a “solution in search of a problem,” and revealed their plans to introduce a number of equally controversial gun-control laws. “The answer to gun violence is not simply more guns. The answer is responsible gun ownership with laws that protect the gun owner and non-gun owner alike,” Rep. Adam Miller (D-Columbus) said in a press release. “If HB 178 passes it will be easier to own a concealed weapon than it is to register to vote. Our children and our law enforcement community deserve better.” The package of bills includes the Child Safety Protection Act, which would require…

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Two Ohio Congressmen Cosponsor Bill to End Tax Deductions for Abortions

  Two Republican members of Ohio’s congressional delegation have signed on as cosponsors of a bill that would end tax deductions for abortions. The IRS currently allows residents to deduct medical and dental expenses from their taxes if they exceed 7.5 percent of a person’s adjusted gross income. Legal abortions and birth control pills are both treated as tax-deductible expenses, but a bill introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) seeks to change that. His bill, H.R. 2742, would amend the federal tax code to “provide that amounts paid for an abortion are not taken into account for purposes of the deduction for medical expenses.” The bill currently has 22 Republican cosponsors, including Reps. Bob Gibbs (R-OH-07) (pictured, right) and Bob Latta (R-OH-05) (pictured, left). “The ending of a human life should not be a part of a taxpayer’s money-saving strategy when they file their taxes each April,” Latta said in a press release. “I’m proud to support legislation to remove financial incentives for abortions, and will continue to work with the pro-life caucus to end all federal funding streams for them.” Biggs, in a statement provided to The Daily Signal, said that the “Abortion Is Not Health Care Act” is…

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Ohio House Dems and Republicans Continue Unusual Bipartisan Push

  Ohio House Democrats and Republicans unveiled a set of bills Monday at a joint press conference, continuing an unusual bipartisan push in the Ohio Legislature after successfully passing a state budget bill. “By working together, we can strengthen Ohio families, give our children a brighter future and create a strong foundation for economic growth,” said House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron) during Monday’s press conference. Two of the bills unveiled Monday focus on strengthening the state’s foster care system. House Bill 8, sponsored by a Democrat and a Republican, seeks to improve foster caregiver training so foster parents can be trained more effectively. House Bill 14 would establish the Kinship Navigator Program, a new program that would help caregivers locate support services that are available to them. “The state’s done a lot to help those struggling with addiction. What we’re trying to do is make sure we’re also helping others who have been impacted by the addiction crisis,” House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) said. Ohio’s foster care system is “being stretched to the limit” as a result of the opioid epidemic. In Ohio alone, the number of kids in foster care has surpassed 15,000 and increased by 25…

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Ohio Senate Passes Bill Requiring State Agencies to Cut Regulations By 30 Percent

  The Ohio Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would require every state agency to cut its rules and regulations by 30 percent over three years in order to encourage economic growth. Senate Bill 1, sponsored by State Sens. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) and Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), requires that state agencies “amend or rescind rules identified in its inventory of regulatory restrictions as necessary to reduce the total number of regulatory restrictions by thirty percent.” “When a reduction of any percentage in regulatory restrictions, whether or not as specified in this section, has been achieved, the state agency may not adopt or maintain regulatory restrictions that would negate the reduction,” the bill adds. During Wednesday’s Senate session, Roegner noted that there are more than 246,000 restrictions on Ohio’s businesses, making Ohio third worst in the county for regulatory restrictions. “Although passed with the best of intentions, the accumulation of new laws and new regulations, over time, will slow economic growth. I’m guilty of it as well. We see a need in our district or in the state and we pass a law and then the rules promulgate and over the years it is like sludge in our economic engine,” she said.…

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Bernie Sanders Calls on Trump to End Federal Contracts for GM During Lordstown Campaign Stop

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stopped in Lordstown, Ohio Sunday afternoon during his campaign swing through key battleground states, including Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. “Together, we are going to make sure that does not happen again. We’re going to win here in Wisconsin. We’re going to win in Indiana, We’re going to win in Ohio. We’re going to win in Michigan. We’re going to win in Pennsylvania and together we’re going to win this election,” Sanders said during a Saturday rally in Madison, Wisconsin. On Sunday, the Vermont senator and 2020 hopeful participated in a town hall with the American Federation of Teachers in Lordstown, Ohio, a community that has received significant national attention after the recent closure of its General Motors plant. “This is a really important meeting, and it’s an important meeting not just to discuss the horrific impact on this small town, this community, about GM preferring to give billions of dollars in stock buybacks to make the very rich even richer while they chose to close down this plant and other plants around the country, but the discussion that we are having here today, right here, is a discussion that impacts virtually every state in this…

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