ICYMI: Ohio Veteran: LaRose’s Anti-Voter Law is Also Anti-Veteran
May 4, 2023
Columbus, OH – In case you missed it, Ohio veteran Connie Pillich penned an op-ed for Cincinnati.com this week outlining the ways that Frank LaRose’s anti-voter legislation is also anti-veteran. The bill, championed by Frank LaRose, prevents veterans from using their county-issued photo IDs to cast their votes and shortens the window for service members to return their absentee ballots when they’re serving overseas.
“Our servicemen and women should be focused on the mission at hand and keeping themselves safe when serving overseas, not rushing to mail in their ballot so their vote can count like the rest of us. Our veterans at home shouldn’t have to jump through bureaucratic hoops just to cast their vote. But Republicans are scared that voters will hold them accountable for their out-of-touch policies, so they’re making it harder for all of us − including members of our military − to vote,” wrote Pillich.
Read more from Cincinnati.com HERE and below:
- Earlier this year, Republican politicians at the Statehouse − bolstered by Secretary of State Frank LaRose − enacted one of the worst anti-voter bills in the entire country. The bill, among other things, disenfranchises Ohio’s veterans and military members who put their lives on the line for our democracy and the sacred right to vote.
- This bill is a slap in the face to any Ohio veteran who has ever put on a uniform and served our nation. LaRose and his Republican cronies at the Statehouse should be ashamed of themselves.
- Not only does this legislation prevent veterans from using their county-issued photo IDs to cast their votes, it shortens the window for our service members to return their absentee ballots when they’re serving overseas.
- Our servicemen and women should be focused on the mission at hand and keeping themselves safe when serving overseas, not rushing to mail in their ballot so their vote can count like the rest of us. Our veterans at home shouldn’t have to jump through bureaucratic hoops just to cast their vote. But Republicans are scared that voters will hold them accountable for their out-of-touch policies, so they’re making it harder for all of us − including members of our military − to vote.
- LaRose knows better. But LaRose will always put his own political ambitions over the needs of the people he swore an oath to serve.
- Late last year, LaRose chose politics over people when he voted for GOP-gerrymandered maps he privately described as “asinine.” And right now, he’s pushing legislation that would effectively kill citizen-led ballot initiatives and create a $20 million, taxpayer-funded election in August − all so that politicians at the Statehouse can pursue their special interest agenda while the voters they’re elected to serve are hurt the hardest.
- LaRose has sold out our state so he can run for U.S. Senate. And we’re the ones paying the price.
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