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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio is owed about $100 million in unpaid fines for campaign-finance violations, and Secretary of State Frank LaRose says the state is done letting them slide.
“If those fines aren’t collected, it becomes a bit of a joke, and that’s not how we’re going to operate,” he said.
LaRose called collecting these outstanding debts a priority during the first meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which is now housed within the Secretary of State’s Office.
A change LaRose pushed lawmakers for during the state budget process last year.
“Finally, we put the elections commission where it belongs…‚” said retired Ohio Supreme Court Justice Terrence O’Donnell, the committee’s new chairman. “This is a great step forward for our state and the citizens of our state.”
Democrats opposed the move, arguing that the previous elections commission was independent and that placing it inside the Secretary of State’s Office puts it under the control of a partisan official.
Under the new structure, commission appointments are split between Republican and Democratic leadership in the state legislature. However, the chairperson—who could cast tie-breaking votes—is appointed by LaRose.
The new commission also has new powers to recommend fines and criminal referrals directly to the Secretary of State. That includes crimes like ballot harvesting, petition fraud, double voting and voter registration fraud.
LaRose said election cases don’t always get pursued once they are sent to county prosecutors, though.
“County prosecutors who are busy people, who have a lot going on, tend to focus on violent crimes… ,” LaRose said. “This body will have the ability to make sure that if someone is doing that, they are charged a fine.”
LaRose also acknowledged that not all of the $100 million in outstanding fines will be recoverable. Some organizations no longer exist, and some individuals have died.
“It’s time that we figure out which ones those are and write those off as uncollectable,” he said.