BREAKING: Blatant Ballot Manipulation

They never stop attacking democracy. Never expect them to.

The latest example?

In Ohio (of course!), late last week, GOP officials abused the power of a body known as the “Ballot Board”—whose job it is to “condense” the language of Constitutional Amendments (which can often be lengthy) down to a length that fits on the Ohio ballot.

In this case, the Amendment at issue is the one that will enshrine Reproductive Freedom into the Ohio Constitution this November. Yes, the same one the Ohio GOP is so fearful of that they tried (and failed) to change the rules of of how these Ohio Amendments pass (through Issue 1).

The good news is that the language of this particular Amendment—the language that 100,000s of Ohio voters already signed to place this on the ballot—is actually quite short. Around 200 words. Which is why those leading the petition drive process requested that the ballot board simply use the language itself (already approved by the Ohio Attorney General) on the ballot. No to need to “condense” at all.

Easy, right?

If you’ve watched Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for any time at all, you know the answer to that question is always…No!

Instead, under his “leadership,” the Board concocted a “summary” of the Amendment that is longer than the Amendment language itself. Which is the not-so-subtle hint that LaRose and team were up to no good. Again, the whole point of the process, under the law, is simply to “condense the text” if needed, yet they did the opposite.

But in lengthening it, they also manipulated its meaning through a number of edits and alterations, as I explain in the video above. How?

1. The Amendment itself explicitly protects the “right” of Ohioans to make “one’s own reproductive decisions.” The summary removes the word “decisions,” and instead says the Amendment is to establish a right to “treatment” — quite a difference!

2. The Amendment itself lists examples of the “decisions” Ohioans have a right to make, including “contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion.” The summary eliminates all those specifics except abortion itself. Again, this isn’t due to the need to “condense” the text, since the summary is actually longer than the Amendment itself. They just don’t want voters seeing those specifics.

3. The Amendment itself is clear that the prohibition/limitation is placed on the “State,” which also includes other governmental entities. It’s the “State” that is not to interfere with the right. The summary alters that to twice say that the limitation being imposed by the Amendment is on “the citizens of the State of Ohio.” Both confusing and outrageous when the whole point is to protect the citizens from the State!

4. The Amendment itself makes one reference to the medically appropriate term “fetus,” and another to the term “fetal.” The summary replaces those words with the term “unborn child,” dropping that overtly political term into the government’s “summary” four times!

And with all that…presto!…Frank LaRose and the government have produced a “condensed” version of Amendment that is not only longer, but has also altered key terms of a petition signed by 100,000s of Ohioans as part of the citizen-led process (not government-led) to protect citizens from the very government that is manipulating their language.

Again, nothing short of an outrageous, Orwellian abuse of power.

So—what to do?

The campaign has an opportunity to file litigation with the Ohio Supreme Court on this abuse of power. (BREAKING: as I’ve been typing this, they just filed the suit! I will keep you posted on it).

But what can you do in the meantime? A number of things:

First, please spread the word so that people know what’s happening. Here is the actual Amendment:

You can share this copy and how the language is being manipulated by sharing this newsletter/video on social media and elsewhere:

Second, to help the campaign itself get the word out, and battle this disinformation, you can provide your support here:

Third, to attend a boot camp tonight on how to best combat this disinformation, go here:

Whatever you do, stay on offense on this critical issue!