Latest / Brian Thomas / Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague - Running for Sec of State

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Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague - Running for Sec of State · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Station. I heard radio.
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  Speaker 2: It's eight oh six here at fifty five car See
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  Speaker 2: the talk station. Happy Wednesday and the reminder listener Lunch Wednesday,
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  Speaker 2: High Green Brentwood location up to see you there, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm pleased to welcome back to the fifty five Carcy
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  Speaker 2: Morning Show. He's currently the treasurer in the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: He is running for Secretary of State. He's a demonstrably
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  Speaker 2: better choice than the Democrat. Welcome back to the fifty
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  Speaker 2: five Carsee Morning Show, Robert Sprague. It's a real pleasure
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  Speaker 2: to have you on today, sir.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for having me on today. Brian.
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  Speaker 2: You know I I we all worry about the outside
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  Speaker 2: individual folks who are not lawfully able to vote in
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  Speaker 2: elections here in the state of Ohio or any election
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  Speaker 2: in the United States of America. I just wanted to
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  Speaker 2: get your reaction on the craziness going on real quickly.
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  Speaker 2: Out in Michigan, we have the Democrats socialist Abdul Lsied
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  Speaker 2: demonstrably as left as a party could possibly be within
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  Speaker 2: the Democrat umbrella. They chose him over the more conservative
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  Speaker 2: party backed Hailey Stevens. This is a phenomenon and it's
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  Speaker 2: growing in our country, Robert Sprague, it's something we need
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  Speaker 2: to fend off. Are you disturbed by any of this
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  Speaker 2: or do you think it's just these crazy, sort of
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  Speaker 2: really really far left Democrat blue states that are embracing this.
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  Speaker 1: No. I think it's a real danger to our country.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, if it's one and it's just Mandamia, New
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  Speaker 3: York City, you go, well, you know, maybe they're just crazy.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, when it's a Midwestern industrialized state like Michigan,
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  Speaker 3: even though we like to hate their football team, I
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  Speaker 3: think you've got to stand up and take notice. And
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  Speaker 3: these socialists, I mean, if you really look at their
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  Speaker 3: party platform, it is just anti American. It's everything that
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  Speaker 3: we are against and that we fought against in wars
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  Speaker 3: against foreign countries. So this socialist movement is a real
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  Speaker 3: thing and it's a real danger to our country.
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  Speaker 1: I think that it is a.
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  Speaker 3: Reflection of people's frustrations with institutions. You know, they want
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  Speaker 3: the economy to be more affordable. We understand that we
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  Speaker 3: have a plan for that as Republicans. They trust us
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  Speaker 3: with the economy. We need to deliver, and we also
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  Speaker 3: need to deliver with the election security, which is one
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  Speaker 3: I'm running for Secretary of State. But this socialist movement
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  Speaker 3: is a real danger to our nation and our culture
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  Speaker 3: and the fabric of who we are as Americans.
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  Speaker 2: Robert Sprigg, the Democratic Socialist of America, platform calls I
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  Speaker 2: can boil it down and say it with a straight face,
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  Speaker 2: and I don't think I'm wrong. It's the elimination or
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  Speaker 2: eradication of the constitution in the United States of America.
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  Speaker 2: When you want to get rid of the Senate, when
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  Speaker 2: you want to have the president elected by the House
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  Speaker 2: of Representatives, when you want to get rid of the
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  Speaker 2: electoral College, I mean, all of that flies in the
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  Speaker 2: face of the oath of office in the Supreme Law
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  Speaker 2: to land.
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  Speaker 3: It is. And by the way, they're not telling the
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  Speaker 3: American people that they're not actually running on that platform.
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  Speaker 3: They'm not saying we want to eliminate the electoral electoral college,
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  Speaker 3: we want to change the underlying constitution of we the people. Instead,
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  Speaker 3: they simply point the finger and say, the economy is
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  Speaker 3: not working for you. You're frustrated. You know it's the
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  Speaker 3: other people's fault, and you know we're going to fix
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  Speaker 3: it by basically using government, which obviously hasn't worked.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen it hasn't worked.
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  Speaker 3: Whether you're talking about the Soviet Union, whether you're talking
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  Speaker 3: about socialist Cuba, all these other examples throughout history, we
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  Speaker 3: know that that method doesn't work. They're not campaigning, they're
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  Speaker 3: not telling the truth about what they want to do
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  Speaker 3: to our institutions, to our constitution, into our country. But
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  Speaker 3: this is a real thing, and as Republicans, if we
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  Speaker 3: don't get out and vote this November, this is what's
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  Speaker 3: going to take hold, and it's going to be a
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  Speaker 3: wave across our country.
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  Speaker 1: We will never let that happen in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you Robert Sprague for doubling down on a plea
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  Speaker 2: I've been making now for weeks and weeks and weeks
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  Speaker 2: as we fast approach the November election. Please go vote.
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  Speaker 2: It's in your own best interest, and notably to vote
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  Speaker 2: for the Republican side of the Ledger rather than the DSA,
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  Speaker 2: which is basically a party that wants to eliminate our constitution.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 2: Pivoting over to photo ID, there is an effort out
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  Speaker 2: there to enshrine our already existing in law here in Ohio,
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  Speaker 2: the obligation to bring a photo ID and enshrined in
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  Speaker 2: the Constitution, which will prevent perhaps future DSA governors to
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  Speaker 2: the extent we ever elect one from deleting the requirement
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  Speaker 2: to bring a photo ID. I think that sounds like
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  Speaker 2: a sound proposition. Where are you on that topic, Robert's break?
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  Speaker 3: You know, if you agree that it's a common sense
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  Speaker 3: thing to have to show your photo ID, you know
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  Speaker 3: you show your photo ID to buy a beer here
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  Speaker 3: in the state of Ohio, or to buy cigarettes, check
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  Speaker 3: in the hotel room, or.
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  Speaker 1: Jump on an airplane.
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  Speaker 3: If you think that this was a common sense security measure,
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  Speaker 3: then doesn't it make sense that we would want to
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  Speaker 3: know that people are who they say they are when
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  Speaker 3: they vote.
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  Speaker 1: In our state. We have photo ID for in person
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  Speaker 1: votes already in our state.
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  Speaker 3: We've had it since twenty twenty two, and it's not
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  Speaker 3: disenfranchised a single American voter.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 3: And by the way, you put the most important things
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  Speaker 3: into your constitution, I can't imagine a more important issue
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  Speaker 3: than making sure that our elections are secure. And by
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  Speaker 3: putting it into the Ohio Constitution, we are ensuring that
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  Speaker 3: it is permanently there that photo ID cannot be taken
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  Speaker 3: away from our elections. In the state of Ohio except
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  Speaker 3: by a vote of the people of the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: And so this is an insurance policy.
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  Speaker 3: Put it in our constitution so that we make sure
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  Speaker 3: that only by a vote of the people will it
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  Speaker 3: ever be taken away from the people of the state
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  Speaker 3: of Ohio. Election security is the most important thing that
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  Speaker 3: we have. We must have secure and honest elections in
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  Speaker 3: our state.
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  Speaker 2: And part of secure and honest elections, I know many
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  Speaker 2: of my listening audience and sometimes people suggest that the
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  Speaker 2: conspiracy theory. Others say no, no, no, that the electronic
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  Speaker 2: voting is AOKA. There's nothing wrong with this. But if
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  Speaker 2: you can't read the code that went into the electronic
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  Speaker 2: voting systems, and you don't know how the voting is tabulated,
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  Speaker 2: and you don't have a paper ballot that you can
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  Speaker 2: double check the accuracy on, at least have swirling concerns
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  Speaker 2: over those machines. Are you are you trustworthy of the
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  Speaker 2: electronic voting in Ohio? And where are you on paper ballots?
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  Speaker 2: Robert Spragg, Look.
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  Speaker 3: It's always it's always trust but verify Brian, and having
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  Speaker 3: a separate paper ballot which you vote on, which, by
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  Speaker 3: the way, is the keyse in probably eighty five percent
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  Speaker 3: of Ohio counties.
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  Speaker 1: That's how you vote right now.
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  Speaker 3: You have a separate piece of paper that is generated
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  Speaker 3: where you can see who you voted for, and then
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  Speaker 3: it is submitted and then electronically tabulated.
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  Speaker 1: But you have that separate paper audit trail. You can
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  Speaker 1: go back and count.
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  Speaker 3: The paper and make sure that the machines are telling
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  Speaker 3: us the truth and that they're secure.
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  Speaker 1: You know, that's the most secure way to vote.
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  Speaker 3: But let me tell you a lot of the shenanigans
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  Speaker 3: and the fraud happen further upstream. When you see people
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  Speaker 3: trying to register to vote that are not even American citizens,
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  Speaker 3: like they're doing.
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  Speaker 1: In New Jersey.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and that makes allows us to pivot over to
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  Speaker 2: the election integrity. What about the voter list? My understand
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  Speaker 2: the thing is that here in Ohio we've done a
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  Speaker 2: pretty good job of staying on top of keeping dead
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  Speaker 2: people off the ranks and getting people who moved out
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  Speaker 2: of the state off of the eligibility list. But is
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  Speaker 2: there more work to be done? Robert Sprague And what
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  Speaker 2: would you do as a Secretary of State along those lines?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I got to tell you, Frank LeRose, who is
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  Speaker 3: our current Republican Secretary of.
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  Speaker 1: State has done a wonderful job.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not running to tear down the Secretary of State's office,
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  Speaker 3: but i am running to move it forward. And you
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  Speaker 3: can see in New Jersey that recently the governor came
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  Speaker 3: out to her credit and said, we've had sixty six
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  Speaker 3: hundred illegals that have registered to vote in New Jersey
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  Speaker 3: from the last year, just in the last year, and
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  Speaker 3: four hundred of them voted in the election.
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  Speaker 1: They are going to find more as they go further
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  Speaker 1: back in the number of years. And these are thousands
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  Speaker 1: of people that have been registered illegally.
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  Speaker 3: Automatic voter registration through their BMV because people who got
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  Speaker 3: a driver's license but weren't allowed to vote were put
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  Speaker 3: into their voter system. And we need to move to
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  Speaker 3: a front end citizenship check to make sure that only
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  Speaker 3: American citizens are going to be able.
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  Speaker 1: To vote in our Ohio elections.
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  Speaker 3: And look, we're making tremendous progress down that road. Still
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  Speaker 3: more needs to be done, but these two things, making
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  Speaker 3: sure that only American citizens are able to register to
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  Speaker 3: vote and then having to show a photo ID when
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  Speaker 3: you do vote, are the path to secure and honest
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  Speaker 3: elections here in our state.
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  Speaker 2: Well, another area that I know in my listening audience
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  Speaker 2: and I personally have a problem with. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: concept of ballot harvesting. You've got well organized and most notably,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm sadly there's no conservative organizations out there that
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  Speaker 2: are organized as the left wing organizations with these activists
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  Speaker 2: that will go out and sometimes fill out ballots for people,
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  Speaker 2: but go around and collect ballots from folks who might
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  Speaker 2: otherwise not have even bothered to cast a vote. That's
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  Speaker 2: their decision. But drop boxes, you know, we have videotape
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  Speaker 2: evidence of people dropping off massive stacks of ballots at
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  Speaker 2: ballot boxes. Aren't they a product of COVID nineteen And
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  Speaker 2: aren't we past COVID now where we can get rid
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  Speaker 2: of those opportunities for people to build to work this
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  Speaker 2: system to their advantage.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think every one of us has seen a
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  Speaker 3: video of people trying to stuff a bunch of ballots
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  Speaker 3: into a valid drop box. And the reality is that
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  Speaker 3: we have thirty days of early voting here in the
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  Speaker 3: state of Ohio. Those drop boxes really don't serve a
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  Speaker 3: purpose now. They simply allow people to ballot harvest. And
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  Speaker 3: what you're describing as a political operative that goes around,
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  Speaker 3: collects a bunch of ballots, maybe even votes them, and
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  Speaker 3: then stuff them into the ballot drop box. We have
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  Speaker 3: laws against that in the state of Ohio, and I
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  Speaker 3: will tell you you cannot enforce those laws as long
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  Speaker 3: as those ballot harvesting drop boxes are around. We need
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  Speaker 3: to eliminate those ballot harvesting drop boxes in our state
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  Speaker 3: so that we have secure elections and uphold the rule
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  Speaker 3: of law in Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: And we have thirty days of early voting. So if
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  Speaker 1: you don't I.
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  Speaker 3: Feel comfortable putting your ballot in the mail, which I understand,
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  Speaker 3: you can simply hand it to a Board of Elections
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  Speaker 3: member during normal business hours thirty days before the election.
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  Speaker 1: Including weekends. So we make it really easy to vote
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  Speaker 1: in person or by mail in the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: Let's eliminate the ballot harvesting dropboxes. Those really are only
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  Speaker 1: needed for the political operatives.
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  Speaker 2: And in terms of voting by mail, right now advocating
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  Speaker 2: that we get rid of that option, But what in
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  Speaker 2: terms of how does it work in terms of a
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  Speaker 2: photo ID requirement when voting by mail?
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  Speaker 1: Robert Spragg, you know we have a big discrepancy there.
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  Speaker 3: I would like to see a show photo ID for
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  Speaker 3: every vote in our state, whether you no matter how
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  Speaker 3: you vote, whether you vote by mail, whether you vote
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  Speaker 3: in person. I think that's the right thing to do
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  Speaker 3: to have secure elections and give people the faith that
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  Speaker 3: our elections are secure.
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  Speaker 1: It makes a lot of sense. I can tell you
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  Speaker 1: just a personal story.
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  Speaker 3: We used to have a lot of fraud and our
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  Speaker 3: tax refunds where people would submit for your tax refund
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  Speaker 3: in the state of Ohio, and our Department of Taxation said,
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  Speaker 3: we're gonna stop this.
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  Speaker 1: It's tens of millions of dollars a fraud.
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  Speaker 3: You have to send in a copy of your driver's
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  Speaker 3: license when you request your refund check.
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  Speaker 1: And the amount of fraud went to almost zero after that.
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  Speaker 3: And so we know that photo ID works, we should
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  Speaker 3: implement it to make sure that our elections are secure
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  Speaker 3: in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: Hitting all the right buttons of my listening audience, Robert
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  Speaker 2: Sprague and finally, you know, there was a time, even
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  Speaker 2: in my lifetime, where voting day was Election day was
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  Speaker 2: election day, and that's when you voted. There was no
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  Speaker 2: early voting. People showed up in person voter. I guess
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  Speaker 2: maybe submit an absentee ballot. But bottom line is, you
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  Speaker 2: had a day and we knew the results right away.
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  Speaker 2: Would making election Day of State holiday perhaps shift us
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  Speaker 2: back to that one day to vote kind of phenomenon
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  Speaker 2: or would we just I know you have advocate for
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  Speaker 2: making the election Day of State holiday on your on
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  Speaker 2: your advocacy and your point your platform, But how about
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  Speaker 2: is there an option there where we can go back
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  Speaker 2: to where it used to be?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I like, in person voting is the most secure
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  Speaker 3: way to vote. If getting to in person voting requires
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  Speaker 3: a state holiday, I think it's a really great idea.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we could have one day where we all
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  Speaker 3: focus on our constitution, where we all focus on our republic,
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  Speaker 3: we take the day off and we participate in the process.
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  Speaker 1: I think our state would be better off for it.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, maybe at that point then we could
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  Speaker 3: eliminate this month longer voting that we have right now.
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  Speaker 1: But I got to tell you the number one criteria
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  Speaker 1: for me is.
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  Speaker 3: That we have secure elections, and so that means that
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  Speaker 3: I would love to have people show up in person
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  Speaker 3: to vote where they have to show their photo yd.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm in favor of anything as.
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  Speaker 3: Long as it is secure, and I think we've laid
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  Speaker 3: that out and we want to move to a front
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  Speaker 3: end citizenship check number one. Number two, require photo yd
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  Speaker 3: for every vote in the state of Ohiland.
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  Speaker 1: Number three eliminate.
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  Speaker 3: These ballot harvesting dropboxes, and we will have secure and
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  Speaker 3: honest elections in the state of Ohio, and we will
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  Speaker 3: set the pace for the entire country in terms of
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  Speaker 3: secure elections.
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  Speaker 2: Ohio treasure Robert Sprague soon to be Secretary of State,
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  Speaker 2: Robert Sprague, just get out and vote in November. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: he's all about election integrity and that's exactly what we
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  Speaker 2: need in this country. Check them out online, help them out.
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  Speaker 2: You can donate to the campaign. Maybe get us a
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  Speaker 2: sign for your front yard. It's Sprague s p R
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  Speaker 2: A g U E for the word Ohio, Sprague for
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  Speaker 2: Ohio dot com. Robert Sprague, thank you for your time today.
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  Speaker 2: I wish you all the luck in the world and
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  Speaker 2: congratulations on the seemingly unlimited number of endorsements you've received
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  Speaker 2: in support of your campaign.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Brian. Look forward to being on
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  Speaker 1: again some time today, any time