© 2024 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio's Top Elections Official Wants Congress To Pass Bill To Protect Election System

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted
Statehouse News Bureau
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted

Ohio’s Secretary of State is pushing Congress to pass a law that limits the federal government’s role in elections.

Secretary of State Jon Husted fears the Department of Homeland Security might somehow declare states' elections systems critical infrastructure and put them under federal control. So he wants a federal law to prevent that possibility from ever happening in the future.

“All I’m asking them to do is clarify it in the law. If nobody wants it, then we should clearly say they can’t do it in law.”

Husted notes the feds have backed off the suggestion of taking over elections systems in recent days but he’s not comfortable with the ambiguity in the current law.

Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.