By Michael Phillips | WIBayNews
As January 1, 2026 arrives, Ohio quietly enters a new chapter in how it enforces election and campaign finance laws—one that reflects a broader national debate over trust, accountability, and governance rather than the familiar red-versus-blue shouting match.
Under legislation passed in the 2025 budget, Ohio has formally replaced its long-standing Ohio Elections Commission with a new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, a move that supporters describe as a long-overdue repair to a system that had lost credibility with voters across the spectrum.
At the center of the reform is Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who argued that the previous commission had become “toothless.” The numbers are difficult to ignore: nearly $100 million in fines assessed over decades—mostly small late-filing penalties—went largely uncollected. High-profile complaints, including those tied to the House Bill 6 corruption scandal, lingered for years without resolution. For many Ohioans, enforcement felt symbolic rather than real.
The new commission shrinks the panel from seven members to five, requires legal or election expertise, and places the body within the Secretary of State’s office rather than as a freestanding agency. Supporters say that structure clarifies responsibility. Instead of a diffuse board with limited authority, Ohio now has a commission empowered to recommend fines and criminal referrals directly to an office that can act.
Governor Mike DeWine, who signed the budget creating the new body, framed the change as a practical fix rather than a political statement. In a state where election margins can be razor-thin and public skepticism remains high, the administration argues that visible enforcement matters—even if actual fraud remains rare.
Personnel choices reinforce that message. Retired Ohio Supreme Court Justice Terrence O’Donnell is serving as interim chair, followed in March by former U.S. Attorney D. Michael Crites. Both are widely regarded as institutional figures rather than partisan firebrands, signaling an attempt to ground the commission in credibility rather than activism.
Democrats and good-government groups have raised legitimate concerns. Housing the commission under a partisan elected official, they argue, risks politicizing enforcement and reducing independence. That criticism deserves scrutiny—any enforcement body must be judged not only by its structure, but by how it operates in practice.
Yet from a center-right perspective, the status quo was already failing the public. Independence without effectiveness breeds cynicism. When fines go unpaid for decades and cases stall indefinitely, confidence erodes regardless of party control. Accountability requires someone to own outcomes, not just process.
What has gone largely underreported is how incremental—and cautious—this change actually is. Appointments are split evenly between Republican and Democratic legislative leaders, with the chair acting as a tie-breaker. The commission’s early focus will be on transitioning cases and cleaning up old backlogs, not launching headline-grabbing prosecutions.
In many ways, Ohio’s move reflects a governing instinct rather than an ideological one: streamline a broken system, professionalize oversight, and restore public trust through enforcement that actually functions. Whether the new commission succeeds will depend less on its statutory design than on whether it applies the law evenly, transparently, and without political favoritism.
For now, Ohio has made a clear choice. Instead of debating election integrity in the abstract, it is testing whether stronger accountability can rebuild confidence where process alone has failed.
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