Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Only repost photo with the original article.)
Ohio’s Republican legislative leader rejects President Donald Trump’s push to federalize elections.
House Speaker Matt Huffman, known as the state’s most effective legislator, categorically condemned any efforts by the president to take control of Ohio’s elections.
Last week, Trump commented on the election, saying it should be “nationalized” and complaining that blue states and cities cannot conduct elections fairly.
“The state is the federal government’s electoral agent,” he told reporters. “I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do it anyway.”
A day after Trump’s comments on CNN, Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted said Ohio’s elections were going well but pressed for more oversight of other states.
“They don’t have photo IDs in California,” Husted said. “They don’t keep voter rolls properly in California.”
Both he and Ohio’s other Republican senator, Bernie Moreno, support the federal legislation, called the “SAVE Act.” which, among other things, would require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. People would have to present a birth certificate or passport.
“Senator Moreno is a staunch supporter of measures that protect the integrity of our elections,” Moreno spokesman Reagan McCarthy said when asked what he thought about federalizing elections. “He is a proud co-sponsor of the SAVE Act and will work with everyone to ensure elections are accurate, fair and secure.”
But outside of D.C., Statehouse leaders are pushing back.
“The state of Ohio should be responsible for elections in the state,” Huffman said when asked whether Ohio should cede power to the president.
While other Republicans responded enthusiastically to Trump’s comments, Huffman clearly said no, insisting that Ohio knows how to run an election.
“I don’t think states should give up elections in any way,” he said. “First of all, will the federal government come in and hold an election for municipal manager? Will they come in and decide who will run for school board, fiscal officer, or a thousand other elections?”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives has previously downplayed Trump’s ideas, including: the president will not pressure him publish the congressional map the White House wanted.
Huffman, however, was involved in redistricting lawsuits in which he asked a federal court to facilitate step in and ruled that the Legislature could control mapmaking. This federal court decision replaced a bipartisan ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court in which Republicans gerrymandering had to stop.
Answering an unrelated question, Huffman mentioned the separation of Congress from the state in passing.
“There are federal things that the federal government does and that the state government does…” Huffman said. “There are a lot of things that the federal government does, but unfortunately they are not federal functions.”
Atiba Ellis, an election law expert at Case Western Reserve University, explained that Trump does not have the authority to federalize elections.
“If Congress decides to make changes to federal elections and federal elections only, Congress can do so,” Ellis said. “The president cannot declare that the Republican Party or anyone else can take over the election.”
The professor said he could get states to follow federal law.
“Congress can legislate federal elections that states will have to follow,” he said. “When you put those together, there is some unification in that sense.”
House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, warned that this has happened before.
A few months ago, the state waived the four-day grace period for delivery of absentee ballots because the Supreme Court is also weighing in on a similar issue. Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who usually disagrees with Trump on most controversial issues (allegedly election fraud, COVID, vaccinations, LGBTQ+ rights, change of area, Haitian AND Somali immigrants) said he was “reluctant” to sign the bill, arguing that Ohio’s elections are secure and the regulations are reasonable.
“The current leadership in Ohio has acted at the behest of Donald Trump, restricting citizens’ right to vote,” Isaacsohn said.
Over the past few years, Ohio has passed numerous bills that impact voters, including restricting access to the drop box and requiring photo ID. Several bills have been heard or are currently pending in federal court.
Isaacsohn was asked if, based on Huffman’s comments, he felt any confidence against devolving state power to the feds.
“Unfortunately, at this time, Ohio’s leaders, especially the Secretary of State, have not demonstrated the willingness and desire to increase Ohioans’ access to the ballot,” he responded. “…I am not entirely confident in hearing from people who have passed bill after bill restricting access to the ballot for Ohioans.”
Meanwhile, Huffman is adamant Ohio will retain the reins.
“I don’t think this should be happening,” Huffman said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Ohio Republican Party Secretary of State Frank LaRose has touted the state as the “gold standard” of elections, and dozens of its audits have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“Ohio is a national model for election administration, but as the president rightly noted, some other states do not meet minimum election integrity standards, such as citizenship verification and voter ID,” LaRose spokesman Ben Kindel said when asked about allowing Trump to take over Ohio’s elections. “That’s why Secretary LaRose is a strong supporter of federal legislation establishing these minimum standards, especially the SAVE Act.”
Future election supervisor
Candidates for 2026 secretary of state who have filed campaign finance reports have been asked to respond to Trump’s comments.
“There are few states that don’t take election security as seriously as Ohio does,” said Dalton Throckmorton, a spokesman for Republican state Treasurer Robert Sprague. “President Trump has urged Congress to pass legislation requiring photo ID to vote, and Treasurer Sprague supports it.”
The panel did not answer a question about whether this meant the federal government should selectively take over cities or states.
Republican Marcell Strbich explained that elections are already federalized due to laws like the National Voter Registration Act, the Voting Assistance for America Act and the Absentee Voting Act for Citizens in Uniform and Foreign Citizens.
“The view that this is solely a state function is simply wrong. This is not what the Constitution says. Congress retains the power to create electoral constitutions,” Strbich said. “The Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act supersede state law. So it is a myth that states control elections. They administer elections.”
He added that Trump is trying to get states to follow rules for maintaining voter rolls.
Democratic House Rep. Allison Russo couldn’t agree more.
“Our U.S. Constitution provides that the administration of our electoral process is a state function. President Trump’s disturbing escalation of attacks on election integrity and his comments about federalizing the electoral process should raise alarm among anyone who cares about fair, free and secure elections,” Russo said. “It is clear that his intention is to take control of our elections so that he can manipulate the results as he wants, not according to the citizens’ decision.”
Democrat Bryan Hambley said Trump’s statements point to a larger problem.
“Politicians have long used their power to manipulate our elections for their own purposes, and President Trump’s proposal is exactly that: a power grab to try to wrest control of elections from the states,” Hambley said. “Ohio’s elections are secure and should continue to be conducted by our state officials.”
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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