Ohio's Gold Standard Elections: A Deceptive Facade

Speaker A: 00:00:00

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Now, the Grassroots Freedom Initiative Podcast.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose likes to say that Ohio has gold standard elections. He and his PR team repeat this phrase over and over and over, hoping that if voters hear it enough, they'll believe it without question.

But we are here to tell you Ohio is far from a gold standard election integrity state, and we are going to prove it. Not with catchy slogans, but with facts and data. This video is an Ohio Election integrity truth bomb.

We'll also explore the legislative changes needed from the Ohio General assembly to make our elections more secure.

We've broken the problem down into four main categories verification of voter eligibility, election system security and auditability Maintaining the accuracy of Ohio's voter rolls and common sense changes to Ohio's election system Verification of Voter Eligibility did you know that Ohio does not require nor provide the means for any of Ohio's 88 county boards of elections to verify citizenship and other voting eligibility criteria before adding someone to the voter rolls? This may sound unbelievable, but it's true.

When presented with the option of connecting the BOEs or boards of elections to authoritative information system databases to verify voter eligibility, both Ohio's legislature and Secretary of state Frank LaRose opposed doing so. Do you know that once identified, non-citizens can remain on the voter rolls for up to four years before being removed?

Do you know Ohio operates on an honor system for non-citizens to self-report that they broke the law by registering to vote and they have to report it not once but twice before they can be removed from the registered voter rolls. Ohio relies on self-reporting via the voter registration form where applicants simply check a box affirming they're US Citizens.

No one investigates further unless a red flag emerges such as a non-citizen self-reporting after the fact, which is highly unlikely and honestly, just plain absurd.

Removing ineligible voters can take years because federal laws like the National Voter Registration Act NVRA restrict how aggressively states can clean up their rolls without definitive proof. We know this sounds ridiculous, but unfortunately this is how Ohio election law currently works. Let's keep going.

Did you also know that even though Ohio finally has a voter ID law, no ID is required to request or vote via an absentee ballot. That's like having a two car garage but only closing one door when you leave. Who knows what can happen while you're away?

Ohio's absentee ballot ID loophole is baffling.

, passed in: 2023

Anyone can steal or buy another person's identity information and register to vote as them due to Ohio's lax authentication and verification standards. In fact, over 1 million Ohioans in each of the last two general elections voted by mail without providing photo ID verification.

About a quarter or 25% of all votes cast. Again, we know it sounds absurd, but it's true.

And finally, did you know that third party organizations are paid to register voters in Ohio and have been caught submitting fraudulent voter registration forms to some of Ohio's 88 county boards of elections, yet they haven't been prosecuted. There is strong evidence of fraudulent voter registration by these third party groups.

Organizations like Black Fork Strategies have faced scrutiny for submitting questionable voter registration forms, but prosecutions are rare. The Secretary of State's office refers these cases to county prosecutors, but enforcement is inconsistent or nonexistent.

Stronger legislation, civil fines, criminal penalties and mandatory investigations could help deter fraud, though enforcement ultimately depends on local prosecutors’ willingness to act.

We need legislation this General assembly this year to require proof of citizenship verification at the County Board of Elections before registering a voter.

Mandate photo ID for all votes cast, including absentee ballots Institute civil and criminal penalties for third party voter registration organizations that break the law, ensuring that law enforcement and prosecutors take election fraud seriously. Election Systems, security and Auditability Nothing is more secure and auditable than paper ballots and hand counting.

President Trump recently stated that this is the direction he wants to move toward.

In the meantime, we must strengthen the cybersecurity of our election systems and improve the auditability of changes to the voter registration database. Ohio must adopt a cybersecurity risk management protocol and require election system suppliers to comply with up to date security standards.

tors Certified under outdated: 2005

ystem Microsoft was hyping in: 2005

We must also require all voter registration systems to utilize blockchain security and make it publicly accessible. This would create an immutable transparent ledger similar to a public Google Doc where every edit is tracked and verifiable.

This would allow Ohio citizens to verify voter registration database entries, effectively crowdsourcing election integrity. Additionally, Ohio must allow counties to adopt hand marked paper ballots and manual counting.

While Ohio law permits voters to request a paper ballot, votes are still counted electronically. Machines can be hacked or malfunctioned and Ohio's cybersecurity standards lag behind best practices.

LaRose's board continues to certify outdated systems.

Allowing counties the option to switch to hand counted ballots would be a major step towards securing elections Maintaining the accuracy of Ohio's voter rolls Ohio must require automatic removal from the voter rolls when an Ohio driver's license is surrendered for an out of state license. The BMV already shares data with the Secretary of State's office, but updates are slow leaving gaps in the system.

Linking surrendered licenses to immediate voter registration removal would fix this. Additionally, Ohio's voter registration system is non-compliant with federal law, the Help America Vote act or HAVA.

Thousands of duplicate registrations exist in the voter database with different state and county assigned voter ID numbers allowing the same person to vote multiple times. Legislation must require county boards of elections to remove all duplicate registrations at least 14 days before an election.

allot system as it had before: 2005

Rasmussen recently reported that 64% of Americans, a super majority of sorts, want to do away with no excuse absentee and mail in ballots. Adopt conditional absentee ballot Voting ballots should be held until eligibility is confirmed. Limit early voting to a maximum of 10 days.

Ohio currently has a 30 day voting period which is unnecessary and increases security risks and costs. Ban drop boxes and require ballots to be dropped off inside the Board of Elections office under strict security and video surveillance.

Drop boxes are vulnerable to ballot stuffing and tampering. Statutorily. Ban ranked choice voting at all levels. Prohibit third party absentee ballot request form distribution.

Third party absentee ballot request forms create confusion and increase the risk of errors and fraud.

Preserve voter registration opt-in.

Automatic voter registration should be outlawed, as should substituting other actions such as signing a candidate petition as a means of voter registration.

Almost all of these important necessary improvements to Ohio's election system were included in two very similar bills in the last General Assembly Ohio House Bill 472 or HB 472, and Ohio Senate Bill 274 SB 274.

Frank LaRose was publicly quiet on these bills, but in the background he and his staff fought to kill them or failing that, water them down to almost nothing.

And this legislation is also being fought by the Ohio association of Election Officials, or OAEO, a lobbyist group that you and I pay for that fights against election integrity. I kid you not. We've highlighted the OAEO in another video that's a must watch.

It's called Paying to Get Beat up and is also a part of GFI's Truth Bomb video series and our Legislature. They appear not to care, only giving concerned Ohioans lip service, soundbites and excuses.

Until we get loud with our voices and our votes, Ohio's election system will continue to be a fool's gold standard. The bottom line? Ohio's elections are not gold standard.

would tackle these issues in: 2025

We must take this fight to lawmakers and rally the public for the sake of our children and grandchildren. We need to secure Ohio's elections now. This video is brought to you by the Grassroots Freedom Initiative, or GFI for short.

If you're not already on our email and text lists, please be sure to join our network of thousands of Ohioans. It's easy, free, and we won't ask you for money.

er of any page or text GFI to: 66866

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