election
U.S. elections official takes part in secretive GOP conference, sparking backlash
A commissioner of a federal elections agency recently spoke at a secretive conference of conservative voting activists and Republican secretaries of state and congressional staff — a step that election experts call highly improper for an official charged with helping states administer fair and unbiased elections. U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner Donald Palmer, the former chief […]
GOP state officials at U.S. House hearing push back against federal election oversight
WASHINGTON — Republican election officials from Florida, Ohio and Louisiana on Friday detailed to lawmakers on a U.S. House Administration panel the success of their states’ handling of the 2022 midterm elections, and said they can run their own elections without federal intervention. The chair of the Elections Subcommittee, Florida GOP freshman Rep. Laurel Lee, […]
Voter ID requirements inserted into special election bill, passed by Senate
A bill originally authored to get rid of certain election days has been expanded to require photo IDs for in-person voting and codifying a limit on ballot drop boxes. House Bill 458 passed the Ohio Senate on Tuesday on a 24-6 vote after additions were added by the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee. The […]
Ohio House committee continues debate on nixing August special elections
A proposal to remove August primary elections in Ohio is supported by a prominent conservative group and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, with both pointing to low voter turnout and high costs. House Bill 458, which passed the Ohio House in 2021, seeks to get rid of August special elections except when a school […]
Ohio election protection group sees annoyances, but no major issues
Election protection groups say Tuesday’s in-person voting went smoothly, save for a few incidents of “heckling” and one instance where technical difficulties caused long waits at the polls. Other than a few “weird circumstances,” as Common Cause Ohio executive director Catherine Turcer called them, Ohioans were able to vote confidently if they chose to do […]
Election-denying Secretary of State candidate asks state supreme court to allow ‘election observers’
An Ohio Secretary of State candidate who denied the validity of the 2020 election has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to compel the use of election observers in the November election. Terpsehore Maras, a podcaster who has also espoused QAnon conspiracy theories, filed a lawsuit against incumbent Secretary of State Frank LaRose, hoping to compel […]
Ohio Republicans up and down the ballot claimed fraud in 2020 election
Ohio’s upcoming elections are flush with Republicans who denied the reality of the last one. In races for Congress, statewide offices, and seats in the state legislature, Republicans up and down the ballot have alleged voter fraud in 2020. In some cases, they baselessly claimed the scale of the fraud was enough to tip the […]
LaRose announces election ‘public integrity division’
The state’s elections chief is pulling together a new method that he hopes will bolster trust in November’s general election, and others in the future. State Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office announced the “public integrity division,” which it says “consolidates many of the office’s current investigative functions, including campaign finance reporting, voting system certification, […]
After suing to delay a primary, LaRose blasts using courts to change election law
With COVID-19 quickly emerging as a new and lethal public health risk, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose joined the governor in announcing a bold and controversial move. They had organized plaintiffs, all in fragile states of health, to file a lawsuit in an effort to move Ohio’s March 2020 primary that was slated to […]
LinkedIn co-founder pours money into Ohio races
The co-founder of LinkedIn, a Silicon Valley-based professional networking website, poured more than $82,000 into Ohio’s statewide and legislative races this year, campaign finance records show. The contributions from Reid Hoffman — a venture capitalist who was also an early executive of PayPal — make him the second most prolific individual donor in state politics […]
Ohio Supreme Court sides with Sec. of State in candidacy case impacting August primary
The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously sided with Secretary of State Frank LaRose in denying a candidate a place on the August primary ballot, and refusing more time for candidates to file for the primary. The decision means candidacy declarations filed after May 4 won’t be accepted for the primary, and write-in candidates who filed after […]
In town hall, Renacci embraces culture wars in primary against DeWine
In a televised town hall, Jim Renacci made a case steeped in conservative culture wars as to why he should represent Ohio Republicans as a gubernatorial candidate. During the 30-minute event, the former congressman blamed “illegal immigrants” for record drug overdose deaths in Ohio; pledged to take on “critical race theory;” and criticized what he called […]