COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Republicans are being accused of, once again, attempting to make it harder for citizens to have their voices heard. The GOP denies this, as they did the previous three times.
It has been especially chaotic for the past week at the Ohio Statehouse as lawmakers debated how to get President Joe Biden on the ballot. They have continued to fail, so the Democratic National Committee got involved to solve the problem.
"The Biden campaign is going to make an announcement today that they have a path to put Joe Biden on the ballot working through the Democrats and the Democratic National Committee to assure that Joe Biden is on the ballot," Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said.
A recap of the Biden ballot debacle can be found below.
Despite Biden now positioned to get on the ballot, there is still work to be done in special session — which is why Laura Irvin drove two and a half hours from Lorain County to testify against House Bill 1.
"Those of us who want fair districts, which is the majority of Ohioans, we know what you're up to," Irvin told lawmakers in the Government Oversight Committee.
There were two parts to the governor's proclamation — deal with Biden and address foreign contributions to ballot campaigns. The Ohio Elections Commission reports foreign contributions are already illegal, but Republicans argue there is no enforcement mechanism.
GOP lawmakers have been proposing bills they say impact the oversight of donations, but opponents say the GOP is just trying to make it harder for citizens to access the ballot.
H.B. 1 gives the attorney general's office oversight over investigating alleged foreign contributions if the Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) flags a case.
"It gives the attorney general very broad authority to step in with... what could be frivolous complaints to the OEC," House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said. "To step in takes that prosecutorial authority from what has been with the county prosecutors to the attorney general — I remind you that the attorney general also ultimately has to approve ballot language so he has a conflict of interest."
Each of the individuals who testified against H.B. 1 Wednesday shared concerns that Attorney General Dave Yost will "play favorites."
According to Ohio law and numerous nonpartisan prosecutors we reached out to, Yost could petition a court to freeze a campaign account in order to conduct his investigation into "foreign interference."
It also gives new authority to the AG in investigating statewide and state school board candidate campaigns.
"It's not about foreign money — this is about killing ballot initiatives, harassing the folks who are organizing those ballot initiatives and donating to those ballot initiatives, legitimate volunteers, legitimate donors," Russo said.
But the biggest concern Irvin has is with House Bill 271, the Senate's foreign money bill, which would make it harder for grassroots movements to access the ballot.
"They want to silence our voices," Irvin said.
H.B. 271, when it was passed by the House, was actually an unrelated bill — but the Senate amended it with their donation language.
The lawmakers added in S.B. 215, a campaign finance bill. In early March, Republican senators passed legislation meant to stop foreign donations to state and local ballot-issue campaigns. This could be by directly donating from outside the country or by donating to an entity, like a political action committee (PAC).
The bill also prohibits a lawful permanent U.S. resident, also known as a green card holder, from making contributions or expenditures regarding ballot issues or candidates.
It requires any group rallying for a cause to register as a PAC, meaning filing disclosures with the government and making it more difficult to collect signatures.
Under the original bill language, it would require all groups trying to get on a local or statewide ballot to register as a PAC; however, State Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said it was amended in H.B. 271 to only require registration for statewide ballot campaigns.
"If you're going to collect and spend money in support of signature gathering, in support of a ballot initiative, you got to report your money," McColley said.
Irvin thinks this is a direct result of 2023.
"They definitely are mad because they keep losing," she said.
The Republicans were 0/3 on ballot initiatives: protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and eliminating majority rule.
"It's been a problem for a long time — it certainly went into overdrive on the three ballot issues last year," Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. "We mentioned in the tens of millions of dollars that were spent."
Before the Nov. 2023 election, the main group advocating for abortion rights — Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights (OURR) — raised three times the amount that opponents did.
Since then, many Republicans like Huffman have used that as one of the reasons why Issue 1 passed.
Data from the state's campaign finance disclosure portal shows the 501(c)(4) spent about $11.5 million on the groups advocating for abortion access and keeping majority rule on ballot issues in elections. OURR and the organization's prior name, Ohioans For Reproductive Freedom, received about $6.4 million. One Person One Vote got around $5.1 million. Another $550,000 was spent on redistricting reform group Citizens Not Politicians.
The fund, although it doesn't have to disclose its donors, has received over $200 million dollars from Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss since 2016, according to the Associated Press.
But Huffman said the legislation isn’t just about last year.
"I think this is a good time to do something about it, whether it's the minimum wage... redistricting, or any other ballot issues that may end up on the ballot before the end of the year," the president said.
This is why redistricting reform is so needed, Irvin said. A proposal to end gerrymandering will likely be on the Nov. ballot.
Right now, politicians like Huffman draw the maps, even though they directly benefit from the process.
In a one-on-one interview with me after the November election, DeWine said that he wished he wasn’t involved in the map-making process — and that it was a "mess."
RELATED: How can Ohio lawmakers be held accountable with gerrymandered districts? Gov. DeWine weighs in
It isn't just redistricting on the ballot, it is likely minimum wage reform, too. As advocates are gearing up to put a proposal on the November ballot to increase the minimum wage in Ohio to $15, Republicans introduced their own wage-hike bill to "fend off" the constitutional amendment.
RELATED: Ohio Republicans introduce bill to stop Nov. ballot proposal to increase minimum wage to $15
This is an absurd situation, Russo said, because if the Republicans really cared about foreign contributions — they would actually take the Democrats up on their numerous proposals to disclose where money comes from in elections. As former House Speaker Larry Householder, the now-convicted felon, learned the hard way — "dark money" can be used in malicious ways and can be undetected (that is, until the FBI wiretaps your friend's phone and whistleblowers go to fast-casual restaurants with a special agent).
The will of the people
Still, this is like a repeat of the Aug. special election.
The summer's Issue 1 would have raised the threshold for constitutional amendments to pass from 50%+1, a simple majority, to 60%. This means that 40% of Ohioans would get to choose the law.
It was directly related to curbing Nov.'s Issue 1 on abortion.
RELATED: Ohio Sec. of State LaRose admits move to make constitution harder to amend is ‘100% about… abortion’
Groups all over the political spectrum, including law enforcement, unions, teachers and social justice groups, opposed it because it impacted more than just abortion. Raising it to 60% would also make it harder for issues like redistricting reform, minimum wage increase and municipal bonds to pass. Some Republicans argued it was a big government play — and a power grab.
After it failed, next came abortion and recreational marijuana on the ballot in Nov.
Dozens of Statehouse Republicans have spoken out or proposed legislation to prevent the abortion amendment from going into effect. Click here to view the timeline of every major statement or proposal.
Statehouse leaders have backtracked and now say they have no current plans to overturn Issue 1, but lobbyists told me that anti-abortion groups are planning a new constitutional amendment overturning November's Issue 1, and another is planning a 15-week proposal for the ballot.
When it comes to marijuana, many citizens reached out to me, spoke at the Statehouse and rallied online to protest against the Senate's major restrictions to weed policy.
After facing backlash, McColley assured he wasn't going against the will of the people, since he believes that the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.
RELATED: Republican squabbling keeps marijuana off shelves months after legalization
These were just a few of the many examples, which is why Irvin is fighting hard for redistricting reform.
What is next?
It is unclear if either of these bills will be passed by the end of special session on Thursday, but the lawmakers say they will continue working on them before the summer recess.
Also, there is still no permanent fix to the Biden debacle. DeWine is urging lawmakers to get a fix to the 90-day arbitrary deadline law by the end of this week.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
