Frank LaRose
Ohio House sponsor defends raising threshold for ballot amendments in first hearing
Ohio Republican lawmakers are laying the groundwork to send a controversial amendment to voters next May. The proposal, which would raise the threshold for future constitutional amendments, got its first committee hearing Thursday. Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, stood alongside Secretary of State Frank LaRose less than two weeks ago to introduce the proposal. Since then, […]
In 1912, Ohio voters asserted their democratic authority. Now Ohio Republicans want to rip it away
Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Rep. Brian Stewart have launched a frontal assault on voters’ ability to amend our state constitution, putting their knives at the neck of 110 years of citizen-led democratic progress in the Buckeye State. Thinking that Ohioans are stupid and gullible enough to relinquish our democratic powers […]
Frank LaRose and Ohio Republicans have launched an all-out assault on voters and democracy
Right now, at least, Ohioans can bypass an out-of-step legislature and go straight to statewide voters to remedy wrongs and enshrine rights in the Ohio Constitution. It is not an easy process by design. No slam dunk. But amending the state constitution through citizen-led ballot initiatives gives people power to change policy that politicians won’t. […]
Abortion rights referendums are winning, with state battles over rights replacing national debate
By Rachel Rebouche, Temple University The abortion landscape in the U.S. has been upended over the past five months, as many clinics offering the procedure have closed and people have traveled across state borders to obtain abortions where it remains legal. The percentage of people getting legal abortions has also dropped. Division over abortion did […]
Ohio Republicans launch effort to make citizen-led amendments harder to pass for voters
Lawmakers raised two ideas Thursday with massive implications for Ohio voters. One is an initiative requiring citizen-led constitutional amendments gain a 60% supermajority at the ballot for passage, the other is a House bill aimed at rewriting the underlying infrastructure of how the state conducts elections. State Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, joined Ohio Secretary of […]
Legal expert, voter advocates slam Ohio GOP plan to make citizen ballot initiatives harder to pass
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Ohio Republicans introduced a new resolution Thursday that purposely makes it more difficult […]
Campaigns brimming with optimism ahead of Tuesday election
In the final weekend of the midterms, every campaign believes the race is coming their way. Whether honest assessment or false bravado, they’ll readily explain how this poll or those returns are good for their prospects. From the outside looking in, it’s as though the biggest threat now is not a gaffe or a new […]
Gen-Z voters worry about possible age restrictions if Ohio Issue 2 is passed
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Issue 2 on Ohio’s 2022 general election ballot is worrying some Gen-Z voters, due to […]
Early vote figures paint a muddled picture
The latest early voting figures from the Secretary of State’s office show a modest 1.8% increase compared to this point in the last midterm cycle. But there’s an interesting shift happening within those numbers. Absentee ballot requests make up the lion’s share of the more than 1 million ballots cast or requested. They lag 2018 […]
Issue 2: Ohio voters to decide whether non-citizens can vote in local elections
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Issue 2 on Ohio’s 2022 general election ballot will allow voters to determine if non-citizens […]
Voter fraud isn’t nearly as prevalent as some lawmakers make it out to be
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud, election security has become one of the main […]
America is amusing itself to death and hack politicians are taking advantage
In 1985, Neil Postman’s crowning achievement, “Amusing Ourselves To Death,” provided the most prescient analysis and forecast of the current lobotimization of American public discourse. Postman’s work drew a distinction between the Orwellian vision of a totalitarian government seizing individual rights and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” where freedom and rights were voluntarily sacrificed in […]