Ohio Election Safeguard Law Can Go into Effect

A big push by Republicans during this election cycle is election integrity.

Part of that is preventing foreign money from being contributed to state ballot initiatives, something that Democrats seem quite fond of lately.

This week, a judge dropped a ruling that will enable the new law to take effect before election day.

It’s In

Over the last year, we have seen some pretty big Democrats taken down over foreign influence in terms of donations to their campaigns.

We have also seen some ballot measures passed due to huge blocks of cash from foreign contributors who are taking out ads to get the measures passed or defeated.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) was just convicted on charges for two different countries filling his coffers.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been accused of accepting money from Turkey.

The GOP has also fallen victim to seeing other ballot initiatives because of ad spends from outside groups who were taking foreign money.

So, needless to say, the GOP was quite happy to see this law being unblocked by the courts.

Initially, there has been an injunction blocking the new law that would prevent foreign funds for state ballot initiatives.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Attorney General David Yost filed an emergency request to have a stay placed on the injunction that was blocking the rule.

Judge Amul Thapar stated, “Because our initial review suggests that the district court’s First Amendment analysis was flawed, we now grant Ohio’s motion for a stay of the district court’s order.”

The new law prohibits foreign nationals from making “a contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure in support of or opposition to a statewide ballot issue or question, regardless of whether the ballot issue or question has yet been certified to appear on the ballot.”

He added, “[W]orries about foreign influence in American elections have escalated in recent years.

“Ohio’s rationale of preventing foreign interference in state elections has a strong pedigree in American political history, and that fact reduces its evidentiary burden under the strict scrutiny analysis.”

This is the right ruling because foreign nationals should not have a say in any way, shape, or form about anything on our ballots, from initiatives to candidates.

Well done, gentleman.