(Columbus) – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued the following statement today regarding the Ohio Senate’s passage of the biennial state operating budget:
“I commend the Senate for approving several key election integrity reforms aimed at keeping candidates and campaigns accountable to the law. They put a very sensible timeline on the prosecution of election crimes, which we need in order to avoid having criminal referrals languish for years without any action. The new process will push prosecutors to move these cases within a clearly defined period of time or let us hand them over to the attorney general if they don’t have the ability or desire to pursue them.
Upholding election laws starts at the frontlines of the process with our poll workers. I’m glad to see that the Senate continued to build on the House’s effort to allow retired public employees to serve in those roles without impacting their retirement benefits. This action helps us eliminate a major deterrent to poll worker recruitment across the state.
The Senate also took the long-overdue step of overhauling the Ohio Elections Commission, which has lost its credibility and effectiveness over the years. I join our election officials across the state in encouraging the House and Senate to jointly approve these reforms in the final phase of the budget process, and I’m grateful for the commitment of both legislative chambers to upholding Ohio’s reputation as the national gold standard for election integrity and administration.”
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