Our Republican Secretary of State (Ohio) is at it again. Previously, when Ohio voters demanded a constitutional amendment to allow Ohioans to have the right to have an abortion and reinstate the right of women to have control of their own bodies, LaRose and his followers worded the bill with replacing the word fetus or embryo with the words “the unborn baby”; hoping that it would cause voters to vote against the amendment. His responsibility was to word the bill in a way that would not be pro or against the bill–just the facts. This was not the case but voters saw through this corrupt ploy and passed the amendment; but the Republicans in the Ohio House were not through. They passed a law requiring women who want an abortion to wait 24 hours before they can have an abortion–throwing an unnecessary hurdle for women.

Now we are going to vote on gerrymandering–finally! But hold on; here comes LaRose. Ohio is one of the states with gerrymandering and we are one of the most extreme states. Ohio citizens who identify as Republican make up about 54% of the voters and Democrats at 46%; but due to gerrymandering Republicans make up 2/3 of our Senate and House. We have extreme gerrymandering. One of my friends lives

in northwest Columbus near the intersection of I-270 and US 23. His Ohio House District meanders it way from extreme northwest Columbus to Zanesville–a very gerrymandered (Republican) district. Ohioans ((Republican and Democrat alike) demanded that new and fair voting districts be developed. A committee of predominately Republican members of the House made a new but still gerrymandered districts. It was appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court and Maureen O’Connior Chief Justice of the Curt and a Republican said ti was still gerrymandering and sent it back to be done over. The biased committee returned another unacceptable revision and this continued until the election and O’Connor could not run (aged out) and gerrymandering remained. So a successful petition was passed and anti gerrymandering was placed on the ballot for November 2024. But LaRose was not finished. The wording for the Ballot was altered to be confusing so as to confuse voters. Maureen O’Connor says the new wording coming out of the Secretary State’s office was unconstitutional. The Republicans will do whatever they can do to hold onto power. David Pepper, former Ohio State Auditor, calls Ohio’s legislature the most corrupt of any state (remember First Energy bailout and scandal; and we are still paying for the bailout). And still some of the politicians who benefitted from the bribery are still around. Adam Kinzinger, Republican former member of the US House of Representatives and a combat veteran, says that the Republican {Party no longer believes in democracy. More to come.