Ohio Secretary of State and election integrity

From Ballotpedia:

Heading into the 2018 election, the sitting secretary of state is Jon Husted (R), who was first elected in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Husted is prevented by term limits from seeking election to a third term in 2018.

State Senator Frank LaRose is the GOP candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. His website has his bio, and I am not pleased to read that he introduced legislation to make it easier for Ohioans to go online to register to vote. From LaRose’s website:

Senate Bill 318 will simplify absentee voting for all Ohioans by allowing voters to go online and request a vote-by-mail ballot. Currently, voters must mail requests for an absentee ballot to their local board of elections. This bill will make the process more efficient and more secure all while improving speed and convenience for voters. 

More efficient and secure? Or maybe more opportunities for voter fraud. (Remember the Soros-funded Secretary of State Project? To paraphrase Stalin, it’s not who votes; it’s who counts the votes.)

So conservative voters may be looking at another hold-your-nose election.

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell published an article at American Thinker, “The Left Wants to Control Ohio Elections,” that takes a longer view at the race for Ohio Secretary of State:

Hyper-partisan liberals once again have their eyes on Ohio.  This time, they want to take over the office in charge of making sure the state's elections are fair, honest and transparent.  Judging from the money they're spending and false outrage they're spewing, leftists will stop at nothing until they have one of their own in charge of counting votes in Ohio.  We have to stop them. 

. . .

[C]apturing the Ohio secretary of state's office is vital to the left's master plan of electing America's next president.  No Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio.  A critical swing state, Ohio has voted for the winner in presidential races in twenty-eight out of the last thirty elections.  As Ohio goes, so goes the nation.

They have full access to the Clinton Money Machine and the Obama Operation.  While it may seem strange to witness millions of dollars pouring into a down ballot race in the heartland, there is a method to the Democrats' madness.  Delve below the surface, and you will see that the Democrats have their sights set on 2020, defeating Donald Trump, taking back the presidency.  Winning the [Ohio] secretary of state's race is a means to that end.

In the wrong hands, that office will become a de facto arm of the Ohio Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee.  Eric Holder and a laundry list of presidential wannabes know that.  Realizing what our rivals are capable of, Republicans should be on high alert.  They mean business.  They've got millions.  They don't fight fair.  It's that serious.

Their candidate for this high office is Kathleen Clyde.  She fits the pattern of coming from the far left of the political spectrum and being loud and confrontational in her style.  She is advancing the preposterous and obviously unconstitutional notion that if a presidential candidate does not release his taxes, he is immediately and irrevocably kept off the ballot in Ohio.  You can see how far-fetched and far left her agenda is.

 . . . 

The person the Democrats nominate, whoever it is, will target Ohio as the missing piece to the puzzle they need to claim the Oval Office so they can pick up where Barack Obama left off.  If they seize control of the Ohio secretary of state's office and they control the machinery of government in the Buckeye State, they will set to work pressing their advantage.  That is why Republicans are taking action: because winning the Ohio secretary of state's race is absolutely vital to the integrity of our elections and the future of our country.

You can read Blackwell’s full article here. I plan to re-post this shortly before Election Day.

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