Here he said it again: "he even agrees with several of the changes proposed. But, despite advocates’ insistence to the contrary, LaRose does not feel he has the authority to take these actions unilaterally..."
Let me clear, we didn't receive the immediate relief we sought. That is disappointing.
But on the fundamental question that brought us to court in the first place?
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On this two-year narrative by LaRose that Ohio law has kept him from implementing online applications?
The Court agreed with us: “Having reviewed R.C. 3509.03, we find the plain language of the General Assembly does not prohibit qualified electors from making a written..."
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"...absentee ballot application to the county director of elections by email or fax or otherwise.”"
The law is not the problem, the Court is confirming.
Then later: “Nothing in this determination should be read as limiting the secretary from, in an exercise..."
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"...of his reasonable discretion, implementing R.C. 3509.03 to permit methods of delivery other than mail or in-person should the circumstances warrant it.”
Again, the court is saying LaRose can DO online or electronic applications if he wants to. It's up to him.
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So LaRose wasted two years telling the state he couldn't implement a 21st century system many other states have implemented, when it fact he could have done so all along.
He's been wrong the entire time, requiring voters to print, mail and put stamps on these applications
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Our only hope now is that after yesterday's ruling, he can finally stop pretending the law is an obstacle here, and he can start doing what so many other states have been doing without problems.
He's wasted enough time on this already.
Please get to work.
END
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Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something comes along that still stuns you. That happened to me when I read an update from my friends at this Substack:
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We’ve watched now for months as Republicans at both the federal and state level attack universities for being too woke, too political, too whatever. (And of late, by the way, we are seeing too many of those institutions cave to extortion and shakedowns.)
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But what, pray tell, are these Republicans doing when they take charge of universities?
Well, we have a case study that just keeps getting worse here in Ohio.
Yesterday and today, Trump’s former personal lawyer is meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell.
No doubt trying to win her over and keeping her from further incriminating Trump
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But much worse than the fact that his former personal lawyer is having this conversation….is the fact that this man is having this conversation AS a DOJ lawyer.
And part of the conversation is clearly that he is a dangling a formal pardon as leverage in that conversation.
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That feels as inappropriate as it gets, doesn’t it?
Well, do you want to know the worst part?
It’s that this is exactly what Justice Roberts’ opinion on presidential immunity guided a lawless president to do if he wanted to get away with an illegal coverup.
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You may have heard that Republicans plan to gerrymander both Ohio and Texas in order to gain more seats in the House for the 2026 election.
But have you heard that the only reason they can even do this in Ohio is because the Ohio GOP…
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1) violated the Ohio Constitution seven times
2) defied Ohio Supreme Court orders seven times
3) held consecutive elections on maps that, at the time of those elections, violated the Ohio Constitution per the most recent opinion of the highest court in the state
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4) altered long-standing rules of judicial elections to convert an independent court into a partisan Court to uphold their illegal maps in future
5) manipulated the ballot for judicial races so that court races now appear at the top of the ballot
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It’s easy to see stories and headlines and lose sight of just what’s happening.
So here’s some detail from the ACLU complaint that shows just how bad the LA ICE raids are:
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“One of the clearest patterns that have emerged in the raids in Southern California over the past few weeks has been stops and interrogations based on nothing but broad profiles, including on the basis of apparent race and ethnicity”
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““The manner in which the foregoing raids have been conducted bears no hallmarks of reasonable suspicion: there are no indicia that agents had any specific articulable facts sufficient to justify a seizure.”
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