Frank LaRose Slammed for “Trying to Stack the Deck” Against Ohioans
After LaRose’s attempt to benefit special interests and silence Ohioans failed, LaRose “playing dirty” to mislead Ohioans
Columbus, OH – Ohioans, columnists, and editorial boards across the state are slamming Frank LaRose for “trying to stack the deck” against the will of Ohioans by rewriting the ballot language that over 700,000 Ohioans had already signed on to support ahead of the November election. LaRose previously made himself the face of an August amendment designed to benefit special interests and silence Ohioans. In the wake of his massive failure, LaRose is now trying again by “twist[ing]” the November ballot language to “confuse” and silence Ohio voters.
And he won’t stop there. LaRose has already said that if the November amendment passes, he would overrule the majority of Ohioans who support protecting reproductive rights by voting for a national abortion ban if elected to the Senate.
“Frank LaRose isn’t working for us and has proved he’ll do whatever it takes to silence and overrule Ohioans to support his own political ambitions,” said ODP spokesperson Reeves Oyster.
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WVXU: Analysis: Ohio GOP’s re-write of abortion rights ballot language is unlikely to make a difference
Howard Wilkinson
August 30, 2023
- In the Aug. 8 special election, Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Republican secretary of state, was told in no uncertain terms that voters had no use for his plan to raise the bar for passing constitutional amendments to 60%.
- Issue 1 failed miserably; and was clearly aimed at making it harder for abortion rights advocates to pass the reproductive rights amendment on the November ballot, which would write access to abortion into the Ohio Constitution.
- LaRose was left with egg on his face.
- But the secretary of state/U.S. Senate candidate wasn’t done.
- Now, the Republican majority of his five-member Ohio Ballot Board — chaired by LaRose and tasked with the job of approving ballot language — stands accused of trying to stack the deck against the abortion rights amendment by inserting what abortion rights groups call misleading, inaccurate and inflammatory language into what should be a simple statement of fact.
- LaRose declined to be interviewed for this column.
- “Clearly, Frank LaRose and his allies are trying to put their thumbs on the scales,” Lewis of Common Cause said. “But people will see through this.”
The Chronicle-Telegram: Trying to spin the ballot
Editorial Board
August 29, 2023
- Frank LaRose and his fellow Republicans on the Ohio Ballot Board are up to their old tricks again, massaging ballot language for political advantage.
- The answer is that the GOP Ballot Board members want to spin the language voters will see in a way that could hamper passage of Issue 1.
- It’s disappointing that LaRose would resort to such linguistic tricks. As Ohio’s chief elections official, he should be striving for neutral language to summarize ballot initiatives, regardless of his personal political views.
- Recall that LaRose, who is running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate next year, pushed to make the Constitution harder to amend, something he said at one point was “100 percent” about abortion. He’s likewise been adamant in his opposition to abortion.
Ohio Capital Journal: LaRose pushes unfair, inaccurate language for voters on November Ohio reproductive rights amendment
Marilou Johanek
August 29, 2023
- Lawmakers rushed a game-changing ballot amendment to an August election (in violation of state law) to sabotage the abortion rights amendment in November. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose spearheaded the shady maneuver to cancel self-governance by majority vote — just to keep a majority of Ohio voters from having their say on abortion access as a constitutional right.
- The state’s elections chief actively campaigned to end the only enduring recourse of ordinary citizens to circumvent a crooked government because he didn’t want an abortion rights amendment to pass. Sit with that for a minute. The guy who administers the electoral system in Ohio tried to undercut the electorate.
- Frank LaRose, the public servant responsible for conducting free and fair elections in Ohio is playing dirty to win. It’s wrong. But it’s only the beginning. Issue 1 was a preview of the depths Ohio Republicans will go to when they can’t persuade. They cheat.
The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: Frank LaRose, Theresa Gavarone trying to rig system to stop abortion rights
Toba Feldman, Columbus
August 30, 2023
- Secretary of State Frank LaRose and State Senator Theresa Gavarone, both members of Ohio’s Ballot Board, were part of the attempt to increase the requirement of a supermajority for citizen proposed constitutional amendments in the August special election.
- Their goal was to defeat the reproductive rights issue in the upcoming November election. They failed. However, they did not give up. Now they are trying to rig the November election with ballot language supporting their opposition to the issue.
- The 700,000 petition signers for the issue, of which over 495,000 were qualified voters, knew exactly what language should be submitted to voters. Stop the games. Run a fair election and debate the facts not the fear. Approve the full text of the proposed amendment.
