DeMora Denounces Secretary LaRose's Mismanagement Causing Staffing Crisis

Today, state Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) criticized Secretary of State Frank LaRose, following a report that more than a dozen workers have left LaRose’s office due to mismanagement and understaffing issues.

“It is clear that Frank LaRose is more concerned with campaigning for the job he wants than making sure that he is doing the job he has now, which is running safe and secure elections. He is a disgrace to the office,” said DeMora. “First, it was pulling out of the bipartisan voter monitoring system ERIC. Then, it was moving the Secretary of State’s office for the first time in two decades to the same building as his campaign headquarters. Now, a Columbus Dispatch report comes out saying that there is a mass exodus of election workers due to the hyper-partisan atmosphere, which has led to costly mistakes such as sending out incorrect ballot language to county boards of elections in August that required reprinting.

“The secretary of state, while a partisan-elected statewide office, has a duty to run Ohio’s elections in a fair, non-partisan, inclusive and competent manner. Secretary LaRose needs to reassess his priorities and show true leadership in the manner in which he administers our elections.”

The Columbus Dispatch report cited perpetual under-staffing, mismanagement, and hyper-partisanship in the Secretary of State’s office following Frank LaRose’s announcement of his run for Senate as the main reasons that employees left the Secretary of State’s office. The full report can be found here.