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David Skolnick

Dems blast LaRose for voter purge

Ohio is undergoing a purge of inactive voters. Or as Secretary of State Frank LaRose described it, boards of elections are in the process of a “rigorous statewide election integrity initiative aimed at ensuring the accuracy of Ohio’s voter registration database.” Democrats criticized LaRose, a Republican, for the last purge which was in late September — right after overseas and military ballots were sent out for the November election — and canceled the registrations of nearly 27,000 Ohioans. Democrats are renewing that criticism. “Even after the extremely aggressive ...

Ohio Republican Senate committee spends big in two primaries

With only two Republican incumbent state senators facing opposition in the March 19 primary, the well-funded Republican Senate Campaign Committee had the luxury of spending in just those races. Between Jan. 1 and April 29, the RSCC spent a total of $1.04 million with $452,587 of it going to ...

Loans fund open judicial races

Open judicial seats don’t come around often, so when the opportunity strikes, candidates who can afford it pour a lot of their own money into campaigns. Campaign finance reports show that to be the case in the two courts of appeals Republican primaries in the Mahoning Valley for open seats. First, though, the backstory. Republicans weren’t doing well in races for seats on courts of appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court. Republican legislators correctly determined it was because voters didn’t know the party affiliation of candidates for those positions and they passed a law to ...

Rulli, Stoltzfus raised funds differently

For two candidates running for Congress for the first time, state Sen. Michael Rulli and state Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus both raised impressive amounts of money in short periods of time. How each raised their money, though, was very different. The two were among three Republicans running for the open 6th Congressional District seat. Because this was a presidential election year, the date for the primary was March 19. That’s seven weeks earlier than nonpresidential years. Also, candidates running in the 6th District had to scramble to get organized because the seat opening up was a ...

Ohio GOP look to close primaries

Republicans in the General Assembly introduced four separate bills to put an end to open primary elections. Ohio law currently allows anyone to vote in any partisan primary — Democratic or Republican. The proposals would end that practice and require a voter to declare their party affiliation anywhere from the end of the previous year before the primary to 30 days prior to it. An Ohio voter isn’t considered a Republican or a Democrat unless he or she votes in a partisan primary. That has allowed lifelong members of one party to cross over and vote in the other party’s ...

DeWine brushes over economy

Gov. Mike DeWine’s State of the State address lasted an hour and only once did he utter the word “economy” — and it had little to do with Ohio’s economy. While outlining a number of his education initiatives early in the speech and right after talking about child care access grants, DeWine said: “By doing all of these things, we will help more families. Businesses will find more workers, and Ohio’s economy will thrive.” That was it. In a copy of the speech, provided by DeWine’s office, there is a section called “accomplishments” toward the end. The section is ...