Trend – The Big Lie

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has been a leader in putting the Biden administration on the defensive over its efforts to combat online disinformation. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

How U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson helped derail a fight against election lies

BY: - November 27, 2023

Back in July, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. A federal court had recently granted a temporary injunction, in Missouri v. Biden, finding that the Biden administration had violated the First Amendment by coercing social media companies to remove content, related both to elections and the COVID-19 vaccine, that it […]

Anti-democratic moves by state lawmakers raise fears for 2024 election

BY: - September 25, 2023

In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers are threatening to impeach both the state’s election administrator, who is highly regarded nationally, and a state Supreme Court justice despite a ruling by the state’s judicial commission that the justice had done nothing wrong — effectively nullifying a recent statewide election she won, Democrats say. In North Carolina, a bill […]

COMMENTARY
The Ohio burgee waving along with the national flag of the United States of America. Getty Images.

We are facing a sustained, historic assault on democracy in Ohio and across America

BY: - September 15, 2023

The textbook definition of democratic decline includes the weakening of democratic institutions like the peaceful transition of power or free and fair elections, and the violation of rights that underpin democracy. Ohio is in the middle of a sustained, historic assault perpetuating just such a decline, and so is America. Due to events that have […]

COMMENTARY

Jim Jordan uses weaponization of government committee to weaponize government, persecute prosecutors

BY: - September 12, 2023

Bullies expect their targets to cower and comply. When the bullied show backbone their intimidators often buckle. That’s how it’s done. Last week it happened to Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, (R-Urbana). The MAGA Republican got owned by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for his outrageous abuse of power.  She tore into the jacketless […]

Red and blue state divide grows even wider in 2023’s top voting and election laws

BY: - June 27, 2023

Next year’s elections are still 16 months away. But for voters, perhaps the most important developments took place during the first half of this year — when states drafted and passed the legislation that will shape how those contests are run. “The rules that will govern the 2024 election are being written today,” said Megan […]

Billionaire backing effort to raise Ohio amendment threshold funded election deniers, Jan. 6 rally

BY: - May 2, 2023

An out-of-state donor who wants to make it a lot harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution has a history of supporting candidates who falsely deny the results of the 2020 presidential election — and he's a major supporter of a group that helped organize the rally on Jan. 6, 2021 that led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of five former attorneys general on Monday added their names to a swelling group that is opposed to the move. They join four former governors — two Republicans and two Democrats — more than 200 groups of all political stripes, and a group representing the state's election workers have all come out in opposition to the plan.

COMMENTARY

Illinois billionaire attacking Ohio voters also funded Jan. 6 and election deniers

BY: - May 2, 2023

Why is a fat cat in Illinois trying to influence lawmaking in Ohio that attempts to destroy the ability of citizens to amend their constitution? Good question. Kind of goes right to the heart of the phony Republican argument for making it near-impossible to pass citizen initiatives in the state: To protect the Ohio Constitution […]

COMMENTARY

Fox News settlement is great for Dominion – not so great for the rest of us

BY: - April 21, 2023

“Damn!”  That’s the instant reaction I had when I saw the breaking news alert that Dominion Voting Systems had settled its lawsuit with Fox “News.” Like many of you, I was hoping to see the network’s managers and top anchors have to answer in person, under oath, and on the record, about the many lies […]

COMMENTARY

LaRose bends to election denying extremists again by pulling Ohio out of database integrity program

BY: - March 21, 2023

Watch what the “election integrity” scammers do, not what they say. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose says a lot these days about voter fraud because he’s posturing for a U.S. Senate run. LaRose, like every other MAGA-snowing Republican, knows the GOP base believes the myth of massive voting fraud so he talks as though […]

GOP state officials at U.S. House hearing push back against federal election oversight

BY: - March 13, 2023

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, […]

Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis censured in Colorado for false election claims

BY: - March 10, 2023

Jenna Ellis, the Colorado attorney who was former President Donald Trump’s senior legal advisor as he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss, has been censured by a Colorado judge for misconduct. The public censure order was signed Wednesday by Presiding Disciplinary Judge Bryon M. Large, who oversees lawyer discipline cases in Colorado. As part of an […]

Trump ‘White House in waiting’ helped develop Ohio voting bill touted as model for states

BY: - March 9, 2023

A new bill announced by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to standardize and modernize state voting records is being welcomed by election administrators and some voter advocates, who say it could increase transparency and confidence in elections. But the first-of-its-kind legislation was developed with help from a think tank that is leading the charge […]