Please note the opinions written below are not the opinion of Miami County Liberty but are solely those of Ohio Voter Integrity Project and rewritten to promote discussion and provoke thought.
Ohio Voter Integrity was asked for our opinion about how Ohio’s elected officials, Secretary of State (SOS) Jon Husted and Ohio Attorney General (AG) Mike DeWine, have worked to improve voter integrity and investigate and prosecute voter fraud.
The following comments come completely from our own experiences over the past 6 years as leaders of the Ohio Voter Integrity Project (Ohio VIP), a non-partisan, nonprofit 501 (c) (4) organization. Because of our tax status, we cannot endorse candidates and therefore do not endorse either 2018 Ohio gubernatorial candidate mentioned here.
When evaluating the performance of the SOS or AG, it is important to
understand a few of the responsibilities and limitations of these two elected positions with respect to elections.
Ohio Secretary of State:
• Is the chief election officer for the State of Ohio
• Makes sure that Ohio and Federal election laws are correctly interpreted and followed by the county Boards of Elections (BOEs)
• Gives directives, advisories and memos to the County BOEs to help them to interpret and implement new or revised election laws.
• Does not make election law. That is the job of the Ohio Legislature.
• Does not have the authority to interfere with the county BOEs unless:
ο They request his help on a matter,
ο A BOE needs his vote to break a tie
ο He determines that the County BOE is not operating under existing election laws.
Ohio Attorney General:
• Is the chief law officer for the state of Ohio
• Is responsible for prosecuting cases of election fraud that are
referred to him by the Ohio Secretary of State and other sources
• May refer election cases to the counties for prosecution
• Has the power to prosecute any and all election cases that occur within the state.
Our Experiences with Jon Husted and Mike DeWine:
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