Frank LaRose’s Failures Are Costing Ohio Voters Hundreds of Thousands More
July 12, 2022
Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Andrew Tobias from Cleveland.com reports that Frank LaRose is spending another near quarter of a million dollars in taxpayer dollars on an unprecedented second primary. That’s on top of more than $30 million Ohioans are already paying for the redistricting chaos created by Republicans. All of this because LaRose and his fellow Republicans broke the law time and time again and passed GOP-gerrymandered maps that created the need for two primaries. By completely ignoring the needs of Ohio voters, all LaRose has done is create more election chaos and confusion that will cost Ohioans tens of millions of dollars and counting.
“Ohio is holding a second primary election thanks to delays in redistricting, the process of redrawing state legislative lines to reflect recent population changes. Amid ongoing lawsuits, and after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected numerous maps drawn by Republicans as illegally gerrymandered in favor of the GOP, there were no legally valid maps when the first primary election happened in May,” writes Tobias.
“At a time when too many Ohioans are struggling to make ends meet, they shouldn’t have to foot the bill for LaRose and his fellow Republicans breaking the law. LaRose is squarely to blame for the chaos, costs and confusion created by the second primary. Instead of doing his job from the start, he’s costing working Ohioans millions of dollars because he only cares about himself and a Senate race he’ll lose in two years, ” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Read more from Cleveland.com here and below:
- Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose will spend more than three times as much as normal to promote public awareness of the upcoming primary election on Aug. 2, as state officials fear the unusual second primary election will result in low voter turnout.
- The Ohio Controlling Board, a state spending panel, voted Monday to approve a LaRose request for $244,500 in extra funding. Chris Oliveti, an official in the Secretary of State’s Office, said the money will be spent on public service announcements on radio, TV and digital platforms.
- LaRose’s office spent $70,000 on PSAs for the first primary election in May. But it’s spending more this time around because of the unusual circumstances that led to the second primary election, a rarity in Ohio.
- State lawmakers have predicted a very low turnout in part because there will be no federal or statewide races to pique voter interest, and due to the fact that Ohio typically only has one primary election.
- Ohio held its first primary election in May, when voters chose candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and Congress.
- Ohio is holding a second primary election thanks to delays in redistricting, the process of redrawing state legislative lines to reflect recent population changes. Amid ongoing lawsuits, and after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected numerous maps drawn by Republicans as illegally gerrymandered in favor of the GOP, there were no legally valid maps when the first primary election happened in May.
- After a months-long legal saga, panel of federal judges in May ordered the Aug. 2 election, picking one of the Ohio House and Senate maps the Ohio Supreme Court had rejected as illegal.
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