LaRose’s Putting His Political Ambitions Ahead of Ohioans To Ban Abortion
Columbus, OH – With less than a week left until Ohioans will decide on a ballot amendment to protect reproductive rights and overturn the state’s abortion ban, Frank LaRose is under fire for going to “extraordinary lengths” to intentionally silence and mislead Ohioans.
First, LaRose spearheaded August’s State Issue 1, an amendment designed to silence Ohioans and benefit special interests – admitting it was “100%” about abortion. When that failed, LaRose rewrote the ballot language for State Issue 1 in November to be “intentionally misleading.” Recent polls show that LaRose’s language has a measurable impact on support for State Issue 1 when compared to the original ballot language and could be “critical” to the outcome despite a majority of Ohioans supporting abortion rights. Then, in the 11th hour, LaRose “quietly purged” thousands of Ohio voters after early voting for the November 7th election had already started.
LaRose has already said he would override Ohioans by voting for a national abortion ban and does not support exceptions for rape or incest.
What Ohioans are reading about Frank LaRose’s efforts to intentionally silence and mislead Ohioans this week:
MSNBC: “In related news, Ohio’s Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, purged thousands of voter registrations ahead of a statewide vote on abortion rights. A report in The New Republic noted that LaRose took these steps in September, but he “did not publicly announce his decision at the time and only acknowledged it when local outlets began reporting it last week.”
Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio GOP politicians have gone to extraordinary lengths to subvert and deceive on Issue 1
Marilou Johanek
October 31, 2023
- Quietly purging nearly 27,000 Ohioans from the voter rolls late last month, even as some voting had already begun in the Nov. 7 election, was dirty pool. The questionably timed expulsion of inactive voters — ahead of a statewide vote on abortion rights — was ordered by a vocal opponent of that ballot referendum without the usual public notice before or after the cancellation of thousands of registrations.
- Voters who didn’t know they’d been canceled by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and didn’t quickly re-register before Oct. 10 — just 12 days after the purge — cannot vote in the upcoming election. They will not have a voice in deciding, among other issues, whether the right to abortion in Ohio should be constitutionally protected or banned by Republican fiat.
- LaRose has demonstrated he will stop at nothing to keep Ohio women from making their own private medical decisions.
Cleveland.com: Frank LaRose’s stealth purge of voters right before the Nov. 7 election: editorial
Editorial Board
October 29, 2023
- Frank LaRose’s decision to push through a purge of 26,666 Ohio voters on Sept. 27, five days after the military and overseas voting process began for the Nov. 7 election — without, it would seem, the usual advance notice to community groups to help ensure accuracy and public awareness — raises red flags.
- This latest purge had originally been scheduled for July 20, but LaRose delayed it to Sept. 27 after the Aug. 8 special election was set. Yet the military and overseas absentee voting process for Nov. 7 started Sept. 22, so the purge happened while that was underway. Why not push the whole matter off until after Nov. 7?
- Frank LaRose owes it to the 26,666 voters he just removed from Ohio’s voting rolls, including more than 2,000 in Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina and Portage counties, and thousands more in Franklin and Hamilton counties, to explain clearly why it had to be done now, in this way, and without, it would seem, the usual advance notice.
The New Republic: Ohio Prepares for Abortion Election by Kicking Thousands off Voting Rolls
Tori Otten
October 30, 2023
- Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered that 26,666 voter registrations be purged in late September. He did not publicly announce his decision at the time and only acknowledged it when local outlets began reporting it last week. Those who were purged cannot re-register to vote in time for the abortion ballot measure on November 7.
- But LaRose’s refusal to be transparent around his decision should come as no surprise. He and his fellow state Republicans have been actively working to undermine local democracy over the abortion referendum.
- Republicans initially tried to raise the threshold for constitutional amendments to a 60 percent vote, instead of a simple majority. This would have paved the way for minority rule in the state. The state GOP argued the amendment was needed to protect the state Constitution from the influence of special interest groups, but LaRose later admitted the move was “100 percent” about blocking the abortion amendment.
Politico: Abortion referendum offers Ohio Democrats a playbook for ’24
Alice Ollstein and Madison Fernandez
October 29, 2023
- LaRose launched his Senate campaign just before spearheading an August special election to raise the threshold for ballot initiatives, a failed gambit he acknowledged was “100 percent” aimed at stymying the abortion rights referendum.
- But an October poll conducted by Baldwin Wallace University suggests LaRose’s argument may not be resonating with its intended audience.