Frank LaRose Called Out for Putting “Thumb on the Scale of Fairness – Again” After Rewriting November Ballot Language
September 12, 2023
Columbus, OH – Frank LaRose is being called out by the Cleveland.com Editorial Board for putting his “thumb on the scale of fairness – again” after rewriting the November ballot language to include confusing and misleading language.
LaRose has already been called out for “playing dirty” to mislead and silence Ohioans ahead of the November election and has said that even if the amendment passes, he would overrule the majority of Ohioans who oppose banning abortion by voting for a national abortion ban if elected to the Senate.
Read more:
Cleveland.com: Putting full text of reproductive rights amendment before voters would end fight over ballot language: Editorial
Editorial Board
September 8, 2023
- Republicans on the Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose made the changes last month, inserting phrases that backers of the abortion rights amendment – formally known as The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety amendment — say amount to propaganda.
- Putting the full amendment on the ballot is the simple fix.
- A change amounting to no more than 20 words in length on the ballot could make the lawsuit go away.
- LaRose is Ohio’s highest elected officer charged with monitoring elections and keeping them fair and impartial. He should make it happen.
- The issue’s supporters say the Ballot Board summary is intentionally misleading and fails to meet the standards required by Ohio law.
- At the least, it’s an attempt by LaRose to have his thumb on the scale of fairness – again. That behavior was on full display ahead of the August vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made it harder, if not impossible, for citizens to amend their state constitution.
- Ohio voters saw through that deception, trouncing that Issue 1 at the polls. LaRose was clear that he had viewed the issue as a way to thwart attempts to enshrine abortion rights. A candidate for the U.S. Senate, he sought donations totaling millions of dollars from his GOP Senate rivals in support of the issue.
- In his Senate campaign materials now, LaRose touts his anti-abortion stance as part of his platform, bragging that he is the only candidate with a 100% voting record against abortion rights.
- The solution here is so simple. Print the proposed amendment on the ballot. The coalition has asked the Supreme Court to order that be done. LaRose should just make it happen.
Huffington Post: Ohio Republicans Twist Ballot Language For Pro-Choice Provision In Likely Attempt To Confuse Voters
Alanna Vagianos
August 25, 2023
- In November, voters will consider a ballot initiative that seeks to enshrine abortion rights and other reproductive freedoms into Ohio’s Constitution. But the five-member Ohio Ballot Board, led by anti-choice advocate and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, on Thursday approved anti-choice language to be used in the initiative, which may confuse voters.
- “Secretary of State Frank LaRose today exploited the Ohio Ballot Board process in a last-ditch effort to deceive and confuse Ohio voters ahead of the November vote on reproductive freedom,” Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, one of the main groups advocating for the amendment, said in a press release on Thursday.
- LaRose gave the deciding vote to approve the language in a 3-2 final vote. The Ohio secretary of state was a vocal advocate for the August ballot measure, Issue 1 ― an initiative to raise the threshold for altering the state constitution from a simple statewide majority vote to 60%. Although a simple majority has been the standard in Ohio for over 100 years, anti-abortion advocates in the state called for a special election to raise the vote threshold in a preemptive attempt to block the pro-choice constitutional amendment.
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.
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.
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