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Sharing the Truth about Ohio Elections by Citizen Volunteer Researchers
Virtually all states have serious election integrity issues, including Ohio. Once you see the data as we have, you cannot unsee. That is why we are here.
All light blue text are clickable links Content last updated JUNE 23, 2023 - Check back for updates
SB71 As Introduced requires county BOEs to transmit daily voter registration data to the SOS for publication and archiving between the 1st day of early voting through election certification; however, this data is largely already available at the county level for most Ohio counties. It may not be packaged as nicely as the new Dashboard planned for online access in SB71, but when prioritizing items that improve election integrity vs. items that improve the reporting of election data, citizen analysts choose fixing our elections over improved reporting of election data every time.
SB71 As Introduced specifies voter registration forms and the statewide voter registration database as public records subject to disclosure under public records laws. This is a benefit for easier access to that information, but also misses the opportunity for significant improvement in the integrity of Ohio's elections, as there are many other election records in which the public should have easier and consistent access that could have been included in this bill. For example: Cast Vote Records (CVRs) are a snapshot of each ballot as recorded by election equipment and provides valuable analysis capabilities. No personal data appears on a CVR. All 88 Ohio counties were asked to provide a copy of their CVRs for analysis by citizen analysts following the 2020 and 2022 elections. Some counties provided this data immediately, some needed to be asked multiple times before providing the data, some provided partial data or data in an unusable format, some wanted to charge a fee for the data, and around half of Ohio counties denied the request or just never provided it. SB71 As Introduced does not change this process.
SENATE BILL 71 THE DATA ACT
It's been two and a half years since the November 2020 elections. A growing number of concerned and dedicated Ohio volunteer citizens collectively have donated hundreds of thousands of hours researching Ohio's elections and how to improve election integrity. This enormous effort exists solely due to the love we have for our fellow human beings, our state, and our country. We have collaborated efforts within Ohio, networked with election integrity volunteers in other states, reached out to virtually all of Ohio's 88 county Boards of Elections, the Secretary of State's office and many Ohio state legislators; we will continue these efforts until our voices are heard loud and clear, and Ohio's elections are truly secure and accurate.
What have our state legislators done since November 2020 to improve election integrity in Ohio?
You may say they passed HB458 the photo-id law during lame duck in Dec 2022. This law requires a photo-id to vote in person, but allows the last 4 digits of a social security number to register to vote AND to vote by mail without any identity verification that the person filling out the paper voter registration application and absentee ballot is the person they claim to be. Secretary of State LaRose conveniently leaves this part out when stated, "With my support, Ohio leaders in our General Assembly took action. Last month, they passed legislation requiring photo identification to vote, and they did it the right way." Historically, there has been many more election integrity issues with absentee voting in Ohio as compared to in-person voting; however, this bill strengthens in-person voter id without consistently strengthening the absentee voter id, which is not equal treatment under the law. Does this bill significantly improve election integrity in Ohio?
Sponsored by Senator Gavarone and supported by the Secretary of State,
SB71 codifies the definition of key election data which are currently used inconsistently by Ohio's 88 counties, such as Registration Date. This is important, but inconsequential given the many other election integrity issues in Ohio. However, the bill does not address the 60 thousand (yes, SIXTY THOUSAND!) other invalid Registration Dates that exist on the statewide voter registration database. Are all of these voter registrations legitimate? This oversight is a very big missed opportunity for significant improvement in Ohio's election integrity.
The Office of Data Analytics and Archives is created to retain election data, analyze election data and maintain accuracy, and transparently publish election data for the public. The bill does not define the responsibilities of this new Office, leaving it to the Secretary of State (SOS) to issue rules and directives in which a future SOS has the capability to undue any improvements to election integrity. In addition, a representative of the SOS stated the new Office is meant to be similar to a Data Center in which data is retained, rather than perform Analysis or Analytics as stated in the name of the bill and office. Initial accolades from citizen analysts for the creation of the new Office of Data Analytics and Archives turned to disappointment as it appears to be another very big missed opportunity for potential significant improvement in the integrity of Ohio's elections, as Ohio's county and state government officials currently offer little or no means to analyze irregularities found and reported in Ohio's elections, and take the appropriate actions based on the results of such analyses.
When introducing the DATA Act in February, 2023, Senator Gavarone stated: "Voter fraud, including dead people voting, non-citizens trying to register and double voting; it's happened, it's happened here in Ohio. Having good data to help clean the voter rolls will make it tougher to cheat and result in better elections and improved voter confidence." After hearing this from the Sponsor during at the Introduction of SB71, would it be reasonable for the public to think SB71 would address the problems stated above? SB71 doesn't do anything about dead people voting; it doesn't do anything about non-citizens trying to register to vote; it doesn't do anything about double voting; it doesn't make it harder to cheat; and we believe it doesn't significantly result in better elections or improved voter confidence. Once the public is aware of that this bill does and doesn't do, they may feel deceived in spending 5 millions of taxpayer dollars on this bill.
***SB71 CALL TO ACTION ***
We The People of Ohio must demand our state legislators do more to improve election integrity in Ohio. Contact your State House Representative, State Senator and Secretary of State and demand legislation that will address serious election issues in Ohio that SB71 The DATA Act does not, such as a registered voter data base that has hundreds of thousands of inaccurate voter records, the lack of citizenship verification when registering to vote, the lack of identity verification when registering to vote, and still being able to register to vote by paper without a photo-id/vote absentee without a photo-id.
If 1 person speaks up, nothing will change.
If 10 people speak up, likely nothing will change.
If 100 people speak up, we may get their attention.
If 1,000 people speak up, they may take action; after all it is their job to represent US.
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