“Patently Ridiculous,” “Pure Fantasy,” “Soft Allegiance to Hard Truths,” GOP Candidates for Secretary of State Struggle Ahead of May 5 Primary

"Patently Ridiculous," "Pure Fantasy," "Soft Allegiance to Hard Truths," GOP Candidates for Secretary of State Struggle Ahead of May 5 Primary

May 1, 2026

"We just cannot afford to have people in statewide office that don't have the brain to do the job"

COLUMBUS, OH - In the final days before the May 5 primary election, Republican candidates to become Ohio's next chief elections officer seem to be in an all-out race to see who can get the worst coverage, with their vows to eliminate drop boxes and make it harder for Ohioans to vote garnering widespread criticism.

While Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague put out a weird Sesame Street themed ad doubling down on his promise to eliminate drop boxes - a promise that Marcell Strbich shares - a WVXU analysis emphasized that the ad "takes so many liberties with the truth behind ballot boxes it is hard to know where to begin."

Local elections officials are also continuing to make clear that they "strongly support the use of drop boxes for Ohio voters," and are sounding the alarm on Sprague and Strbich's attacks, highlighting that "despite unsubstantiated claims to the contrary, drop boxes are safe, secure and reliable."

Read more about the Republicans candidates' closing message ahead of the May 5 primary election in the race that Cleveland.com's Today in Ohio podcast says is "flying under the radar," but "could have a direct impact on how - and whether - you cast your vote."

Cleveland.com: Bob Sprague wants to be secretary of state - but he doesn't get how Ohio elections work

The governor's race gets the headlines. The Senate race dominates the ads. But quietly flying under the radar in Ohio's primary is a contest that could have a direct impact on how - and whether - you cast your vote.

The Today in Ohio podcast crew talked Wednesday about candidates seeking to be secretary of state and noted how the guy who might be the Republican frontrunner seems to lack the brainpower to understand how the office works.

Bob Sprague, the current Ohio state treasurer, has been running an ad promising to abolish all ballot drop boxes in Ohio. It's a red-meat promise designed to appeal to voters who've been told - without evidence - that Ohio's elections are riddled with fraud.

"Laura, can you believe Bob Sprague, the leading Republican seeking the job of Secretary of State, is so desperate as to be pandering his ads with promises to abolish all ballot drop boxes? That's patently ridiculous. People love ballot drop boxes," host Chris Quinn said to open Wednesday's discussion. He noted that ballot drop boxes are a service to the disabled.

But the drop box issue isn't even the most revealing part of Sprague's platform. That distinction belongs to his push for a new paper printout system at the polls - something he describes as a voter-verified record that poll workers could collect as a backup to the tabulation process.

As Quinn noted, Ohio already has that. Voters fill out paper ballots, which are then scanned and secured by elections workers. The paper backup exists in Ohio because the state law requires it.

Host Laura Johnston said Ohio voters don't tap a touchscreen and walk away. Ohio moved away from that kind of election machine years ago. Sprague's big election security proposal is a solution to a problem that was solved before he started running.

"We just cannot afford to have people in statewide office that don't have the brain to do the job," Quinn said.

[…]

And the consequences of banning drop boxes aren't abstract. Drop boxes are a lifeline for voters with disabilities, those without reliable transportation, and working people who can't make it to a polling location during standard hours. Eliminating them in the name of a fraud threat that doesn't exist is voter suppression.

[…]

WVXU: Analysis: Fact-checking Robert Sprague's TV ad on ballot drop boxes

It happens way too often in politics.

A candidate creates a "problem" that doesn't really exist and proceeds to spend campaign dollars knocking down straw men.

This is what Robert Sprague, one of two Republican candidates vying to be Ohio's next Secretary of State, is doing with a deliberately cartoonish TV ad where he compares ballot drop boxes to garbage cans, saying the boxes are meant to encourage election fraud.

[…]

Sprague's ad takes so many liberties with the truth behind ballot boxes it is hard to know where to begin.

First, if there is one thing you will never see in Ohio, it is a ballot drop box on the street where you live.

The real ballot drop boxes are on the property of Ohio's 88 county boards of elections. There are no Muppet-like creatures living inside them. Just ballots.

Ohio law requires a bipartisan pair of board of elections workers to remove ballots from the drop boxes once a day and at 7:30 p.m. on an election day.

It takes two keys to open the box - one held by the Democrat and the other by a Republican. The ballots are then taken inside the board of elections office and checked to make sure they were put there by registered voters. If the ballots check that box, they are added to the count. If the ballots are not legitimate, they are not counted.

Period. End of story.

Every job in a county board of elections in Ohio has, in effect, two people for every job - one Republican and one Democrat. They are meant to be a check on each other, but, nearly always, they work together just to get the ballot counting done.

I have seen this process play itself out many times, in many counties. It works well, in almost all cases, and is a process that has been in place since at least 2010.

The picture Sprague paints in his cartoonish ad is pure fantasy.

Maybe he assumes that his Republican primary voters won't notice the difference.

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio GOP candidates push to eliminate ballot drop boxes

[…]

In a new ad, state Treasurer Robert Sprague, a Republican campaigning to run Ohio's elections, tells a Sesame Street-like character named "Lefty the Cheat" that "ballot drop boxes just aren't secure" and pledges to eliminate them.

Sprague's primary challenger, retired Air Force intelligence officer Marcell Strbich, has also advocated for banning election drop boxes. He wants to end no-excuse absentee voting and require people to vote on paper ballots.

But local election officials and voting rights groups say drop boxes are a safe way for older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers, college students and busy voters to return their absentee ballots.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, describes the option as "secure" on his office's website. But he's also floated the idea of eliminating them in a letter to legislative leaders. Any change would require state lawmakers' approval.

Unlike the scenario in Sprague's ad, the average Ohioan is unlikely to stumble upon one on their street. Each county has one drop box located at its county board of elections, monitored with video, fire- and bomb-proofed and emptied by members of two different political parties.

"Ohio's local election officials strongly support the use of drop boxes for Ohio voters. Despite unsubstantiated claims to the contrary, drop boxes are safe, secure and reliable," said Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials.

There are no documented cases of ballots being damaged or stolen from Ohio drop boxes, Ockerman said. "Furthermore, Ohio already has strong ballot-harvesting laws and directives, which discourage and punish any potentially nefarious behavior."

[…]

"More Republicans than Democrats, generally, vote absentee in Ohio," said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. "And so, anyone who thinks that eliminating drop boxes only harms one set of voters is wrong. It harms senior citizens, people with disabilities, rural Ohioans and so many others who prefer to vote absentee."

[…]

Ohio Capital Journal: Commentary: Ohio treasurer looking to play musical chairs with statewide office spreads false election hysteria

Ohio's state treasurer, Robert Sprague, is a term-limited Republican musical chair politician who hopes to grab another statewide seat for himself as secretary of state - if he gets past GOP primary challenger Marcell Strbich on May 5 to face either Democrat Bryan Hambley or Allison Russo in November.

To that end, Sprague recently dropped a campaign ad ahead of next week's election that is highly revealing about the candidate's fidelity to facts.

[…]

Lot to unpack. But for starters, after seven years in a statewide office and four terms as a state rep, surely Sprague knows or should know the truth about ballot drop boxes in Ohio - which have been used for decades in red and blue states without controversy as a convenient way for voters to drop off their ballots without relying on the mail.

[…]

Trump described them as a "voter security disaster" (with zero evidence) as he deliberately seeded unfounded doubt about voting in the run-up to the presidential election - the same way he is seeding corrosive distrust of election systems ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Republicans eager to align with Trump then and now, like Sprague, have likewise fueled misinformation about drop boxes as a source of widespread election fraud.

Never mind that after the 2020 election, states across the country told the Associated Press there were nocases of fraud, vandalism, or theft involving drop boxes that would have affected election outcomes.

Sprague knows or should know how incredibly secure and sturdy the roughly 1,000-pound steel ballot drop boxes actually are in Ohio - bolted to the ground, only one per county boards of election, with 24/7 surveillance under stringent bipartisan oversight. (So not exactly something you'd see in "your neighborhood" sharing the sidewalk with a trash can.)

Sprague also leans into the made-up GOP story of widespread noncitizen voting in U.S. elections in his ad - which he knows or should know is extremely rare and already illegal.

For years in Ohio, voters signed an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, to affirm their citizenship. The practice endured without incident (or massive voter fraud by noncitizens) until Trump and Co. began pushing the false claims of hordes of noncitizens voting despite all evidence to the contrary.

[…]

Here's a word of clarity to Ohio voters about who has held one-party rule over the state for roughly 26 of the last 33 years.

The Republican trifecta in both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office, as well as the Republican monopoly on every statewide office, wields absolute power over how, when and whether your vote counts or is trashed, (for noncompliance with never-ending GOP voting restrictions) or is purged without notice in more frequently conducted cancellations of voter registrations.

The overarching tell of Sprague's ad is its soft allegiance to hard truths.

[…]

The Marietta Times: Election chief hopefuls disagree on drop boxes

Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, who is running in the Republican primary for secretary of state, said he wants to eliminate drop boxes and limit those who can vote absentee.

[…]

Marcell Strbich, Sprague's opponent in next week's Republican primary for secretary of state, also supports the elimination of drop boxes, eliminating absentee voting and requiring election boards to hand count votes.

Stephanie Penrose, the director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, said she doesn't support the elimination of drop boxes, saying close to one-third of those who have voted absentee in the upcoming election have put their ballots in the board's drop box.

Penrose said, "People have confidence in the drop boxes because there's a camera on it. They shouldn't be eliminated."

[…]

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