Important voting rights update in Ohio: for two years, Ohio's SOS has claimed he could not allow online or electronic applications for absentee ballots. Ohio law didn't permit it, he said, insisting he needed legislative approval.
We went to court to show he was wrong...
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Several weeks ago, a common pleas court agreed with us, but he (of course) appealed immediately.
This afternoon, we got our ruling on that appeal.
The disappointing news is that we did not get the relief/injunction we were seeking immediately.
The good news? ...
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Like the court below, the appeals court agreed that nothing in OH law prevents the acceptance of electronic applications of absentee ballots: "Having reviewed R.C. 3509.03, we find the plain language of the Gen'l Assembly does not prohibit qualified electors from making.."
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"... a written absentee ballot application to the county director of elections by email or fax or otherwise.”
It later said again: "Nothing in this determination should be read as limiting the secretary from, in an exercise of his reasonable discretion..."
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"...implementing R.C. 3509.03 to permit methods of delivery other than mail or in-person should the circumstances warrant it.”
The court did not agree with our effort to immediately allow such applications to be made, or that LaRose was required to do so, but our core...
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...effort was always to make clear that Ohio law currently allows applications to be sent electronically.
For two years, LaRose said he couldn't do so. And for two years, it turns out, he's been wrong.
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So as we and others have said all along, there is nothing in Ohio law right now stopping the acceptance of electronic or online applications--the only thing that's been stopping it is LaRose himself.
While we will weigh our short-term options with this case as to relief,...
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...clearing this part up is a long-term win for Ohio voters.
Bottom line: it's long past time for LaRose to stop hiding behind phantom laws for his unwillingness to do things. It's time for him to get to work.
END
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True story: when I rolled out "Laboratories of Autocracy" and "Saving Democracy," insisting that we have to fight for democracy in every corner of every state, I heard from a lot of you.
But the most important political figures in America?
I didn't expect to hear much.
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And with a few exception (thank you @HillaryClinton ) I didn't.
But do you know the most senior elected leader who called me out of the blue (after a Morning Joe appearance) to say she agreed with what I was saying?
One guess.
It was @vp Harris.
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We talked for 20 minutes about how we have to fight for democracy not only at the federal level, but in state after state.
We talked about some of the states I've visited, and she asked what I was hearing.
We talked about her visits with statehouse leaders after Dobbs...
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Across Ohio, voters are routinely removed from the rolls because they move to another county in the states, or out of state entirely, and they documented that move through what is called the National Change of Address (NCOA) form.
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But a few years back, a number of voters from Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) filled out the NCOA form indicating that they were moving from one part of Cuyahoga County to another address WITHIN the County.
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One woman moved from Cleveland to Parma, for example.
Another moved from North Olmstead to Berea.
A number moved from one street in Cleveland to another.
On Monday, almost 160,000 voter registrations are supposed to be purged in the state of Ohio.
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The media narrative on JD Vance has been absurd for years. As is the overall narrative about what ails the so-called “rust-belt.”
Both stem from a warped coastal view of the Midwest, looking for simplistic narratives, falling for the ruse…
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On Vance, just as an example: when he moved back to Ohio from San Francisco, the New York Times for some reason let him run this op-Ed, allowing him to frame his move back to the Buckeye State as if it was a patriotic sacrifice.
He was giving up so much, he told us.
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Huh?
When I moved back to Ohio right after (the same) law school, I saw it the opposite way. Sure, I could have gone to good jobs in other places as well; I had those offers too
But there was great opportunity to be seized right in Cincinnati;
I see some pundits are asking why Ohio should have a virtual DNC roll call for the presidential nomination process.
The answer involves an attack on democracy that only Ohio Republicans engaged in, and the DNC’s laudable willingness to stand up to it.
A quick 🧵
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Here’s what I wrote to a DNC member who asked me about it:
“Here is why I strongly supported what the DNC did re Ohio, and sticking to that position now:
For the first time in modern memory, Ohio Republicans attached conditions…”
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to legislation that extended the deadline for a presidential nominee to be placed on the Ohio ballot. In the past, including in 2020, this has always been done as a matter of course, and for nominees of either party. Ohio also appears to be the only state in the nation…”
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🚨 Did you know that JD Vance once attacked what he termed “the childless left”?
The guy literally said those without children have no “physical commitment to the future of this country”—“Why is this just a normal fact of … life for the leaders of our country to be people..
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…who don’t have a personal and direct stake in it via their own offspring?” He literally mentioned the names of a number of politicians who don’t have children.
I mean…Who. Does. That???
And then, of course, the guy also voted against protecting IVF both in the Senate…
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…and in Ohio.
He called universal childcare “class warfare.”
He praised Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as “far more reputable source of information than Rachel Maddow.”
And he suggested women should stay in bad marriages, even violent ones.
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