Latest / Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News / MAHA-endorsed Ohio Secretary of State candidate thrives as an outsider

Transcript

MAHA-endorsed Ohio Secretary of State candidate thrives as an outsider · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:09
  Hey everyone, welcome to the Maha Lowdown.
• 0:11
  I'm Jeff Lauder back.
• 0:14
  And Secretary of State races at the state level across the United States have really caught momentum, especially since 2020.
• 0:25
  And here we are in 2026 in the Ohio Secretary of State race is shaping up to be probably the most competitive Republican primary.
• 0:36
  And my guest today is Marcel Stirbich, who is running for Secretary of State, and he's running against uh Robert Sprague.
• 0:45
  Welcome to the show, Marcel.
• 0:46
  Hey, it's great to be with Maha Lowdown crew, and thanks for having me, Jeff.
• 0:50
  And we talked uh spent about a week or two ago.
• 0:53
  I'm writing a general feature uh uh for the Epic Times on the Secretary of State race.
• 0:59
  And we had a really in-depth conversation that I really enjoyed because you're uh I joked around that you know the uh Secretary of State, the uh the ins and outs of the issues, kind of like I know baseball stats.
• 1:17
  So uh before we uh go into details about some of the issues uh for for those of our listeners who aren't familiar with you, could you tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to run for Secretary of State?
• 1:32
  Yeah, sure.
• 1:32
  You know, I was born and raised uh to first generation uh Croatian American parents, immigrated to the United States in 1970.
• 1:39
  We had a family restaurant business, 50 style diner on the northwest side of Chicago, and um I grew up as the youngest of three working in that restaurant business with my folks, got a chance to interact with people from all different backgrounds, just uh a unique uh childhood, if you will.
• 1:53
  I traveled back and forth um to go to Europe and I got a chance to get experience in worldly very early in my life.
• 1:59
  When 9-11 happened, I was about 19 years old, uh 20-ish, and um I made a call to go in um become an active duty uh officer in the Air Force, and uh I wanted to address what I saw was uh a clear-cut threat to this country and ideology that was going around the world and that was uh threatening in in various ways.
• 2:21
  Of course, we were attacked as a country.
• 2:23
  And um, from the moment that I graduated uh college at Indiana University and uh completed my degree there in policy studies, I decided I want to go into the um Intel career field.
• 2:33
  And so I was selected to do that.
• 2:35
  And within a year of having commission as an officer, I was flying uh combat mission intel support over Iraq and Afghanistan, uh, trying to identify IEDs, trying to interdict and detect enemy forces.
• 2:47
  And so um my first 10 years was very combat-oriented, embedded with the Army Ranger Regiment and a lot of deployments, um, a lot of I trying to identify terror terror cells throughout the world.
• 3:01
  And the last 10 years was about um coming back to Ohio where I was settled here and got married with my wife from Delaware County, and uh we embarked on the next 10 years working in an emerging and disruptive technologies, which ended up uh leading me to the very top of the Pentagon at the vice chairman joint chiefs of staff, where I was an advisor on a major information system modernization upgrade program that covered about 25 billion dollars worth of critical infrastructure in the military.
• 3:31
  And and so everything was looking great.
• 3:34
  I was going to probably just retire out of the military after 20, 30 years as a colonel.
• 3:39
  And then, of course, we had 2020, and we had the um uh, you know, the events that took place with COVID and the mandates in the military, which um led to a lot of intimidation, coercion, and persecution of service members for exercising their informed consent over the matter of having to take um emergency use authorized product.
• 3:59
  And I really got a chance to um embark on a completely different journey than just serving in the military.
• 4:05
  My my journey ended up taking me into the medical freedom movement, um, the conscientious right to refuse that actions that were taking place, and uh, and I realized that never has liberty been um more at stake when people can't even exercise personal decisions over their health.
• 4:22
  And um, that led me into the path that I'm in um toward the Secretary of State.
• 4:29
  So, about people paying attention, uh, what have you noticed as far as the Secretary of State race?
• 4:37
  Because obviously, people when they think of Secretary of State, they think of like the role that Marco Rubio's in right now.
• 4:43
  But at the state level, there really wasn't uh, I mean, most people likely couldn't even tell you in depth what the state secretary of state did until I know 2020 and the election integrity issues really shined a light on on that.
• 5:00
  And in Ohio, it had a lot to do with um the election being uh stalled as well.
• 5:06
  Uh, what are your thoughts about that?
• 5:08
  Yeah, I think people have opened their eyes now to seeing that you know there are 50 secretaries of state that exist too in every state, and they have a wide range of um missions to include overseeing elections, business services, records.
• 5:24
  Um, I mean, most people would say 10, 15 years ago, so what?
• 5:28
  Yeah, that's important.
• 5:29
  Um, but what I think people have come to see is that if there is in any way a questionable election, or there's the inability uh to follow the law in terms of qualifying people to vote and then sending out you know an enormous amount of uh uncount unaccounted for ballots.
• 5:51
  Um what is the point of uh every other issue if there's a compromise and in elections can be exploited, and they were in many states, um, and they have been for some time, I believe.
• 6:04
  I just think that 2020 was so egregious that um people started to realize that either you're a secretary of state that's gonna get ahead of that and and address those issues and incorporate safeguards, or you're gonna allow uh bureaucracy and other influencers to dictate that.
• 6:21
  And um, it's too important to sit back because after the 2020 election, the borders were flung open.
• 6:28
  Um, our first amendment rights were infringed upon to worship freely.
• 6:32
  People were faced with decisions on not being able to conduct business, other businesses, their children were exposed to products that they should have never had to be exposed to.
• 6:43
  Um, and everything just kind of came together in one clouche that um, you know, if you look at it, if you if you were to assess really what happened there, how much of what took place was legitimate after 2020 in terms of what that administration did.
• 6:59
  And it all stemmed back from that many Americans came away from that perspective that that was not a legitimately conducted election, and therefore they refused to accept the outcome, which is very dangerous for our country if we don't accept outcomes or if elections become um that loose or they don't follow the law.
• 7:17
  So that led me down this path in Ohio when I moved here in 22 to take on um local active role in assessing what was taking place, and I found similar patterns taking place in in my county, fifth largest in Ohio, Montgomery, that were taking place down in Georgia or Michigan or Wisconsin or some of these other states that are troubled with their election administration.
• 7:39
  And that's when I realized that we've got to go back to the core issue.
• 7:43
  Um, and I continue to support the Maha movements and various things because human health is at the forefront.
• 7:49
  We can't compromise that.
• 7:50
  We can't compromise the health of our future generations over corporate welfare and greed.
• 7:55
  Um, and but I did see that what led to all that was the illegitimate conduct of elections.
• 8:01
  And so that's where I put my effort in the next three years and all the way up until I announced my run for Secretary of State in May of 2025.
• 8:11
  And what uh prompted that was there any particular motivation or did it evolve into that uh over a course of time?
• 8:21
  What prompted it was I had pushed forward three different election bills.
• 8:25
  I had sued in one at the Ohio uh Supreme Court for the failure of a director to uh follow the law when it comes to enforcing citizenship review for people who cast ballots.
• 8:38
  And finally, I wrote a even a resolution for the Ohio Republican Party to codify some of President Trump's executive orders, and none of those things were moved forward in the one-party supermajority proof Republican legislature.
• 8:53
  And I realized that those who are in elected office just want to stay elected and they don't want to take a position or come out on record for something that would consider them to be controversial.
• 9:04
  So they're all looking to just fly under the radar.
• 9:07
  And I realized that there's no political will to exercise either a Maha agenda or President Trump's election integrity agenda, and that we're losing time, which is critical in the political space because in this country, the as we can tell, we swing back and forth politically every two, four or six years.
• 9:28
  And as such, there's very little time to enact a lasting and substantive agenda.
• 9:33
  Um, and so two years into the presidency for President Trump, there wasn't enough movement in my mind.
• 9:39
  And the person that was running for this office to oppose me was just trying to keep his place in the system, having announced for governor, having auditioned for lieutenant governor.
• 9:48
  He was just trying to stay in government because he was term limited.
• 9:51
  He he wasn't trying to be it, and he's not trying to be a secretary of state because he's going to take action on areas of of vulnerability to fraud, error, manipulation.
• 10:00
  In elections.
• 10:01
  He's just, he's just a uh music, what we say in Ohio, musical chair politician.
• 10:06
  So that was the final straw for me.
• 10:08
  And then I decided that I had the best understanding of what's taking place and where we're susceptible and vulnerable in our elections.
• 10:14
  So I decided to run on that platform, and we're having great success.
• 10:19
  So what would you say?
• 10:21
  And we could talk about this in depth.
• 10:23
  Um your platform.
• 10:25
  What are some uh key key issues uh in-depth that you could go into where you really think the you can make a difference as Secretary of State.
• 10:37
  Yeah, I appreciate the question.
• 10:38
  I mean, what it comes down to is we've got to ensure everybody's properly verified before they're even given the opportunity to cast and have their vote counted, and we do a very poor job.
• 10:47
  We have an honor system in this country based on the way federal laws were written years ago that pretty much make voter registration automatic instead of qualifying that first.
• 10:58
  So we have to address uh voter verifiability because if we don't, what we do is we we push risk into the vote casting and vote counting part of elections, and people end up getting ballots that shouldn't and voting and then having that count.
• 11:11
  Uh and that's made possible by a second risk, which is third party groups.
• 11:16
  So for years now, we've allowed 501c3 nonprofit and for-profit entities, which are which are not election officials.
• 11:24
  Many are paid for bipartisan organizations, and they go around and they they do voter registration drives or they even do ballot gathering activities, okay, uh vote harvest, and and they have very little oversight in Ohio and across the country.
• 11:39
  And so when there are bad actors, and we found in Ohio that there are, particularly last year in near Cincinnati and near Cleveland, which were caught on a limited basis, um, with the minimum detection we have currently, which we need to increase, by the way, um, capability to detect voter fraud.
• 11:57
  But when what we found is there was like no enforcement uh or punishment from criminal referrals, right?
• 12:03
  The the canvaser is fired, but the organization that employed the canvaser faces no consequences, either financially or jail time.
• 12:10
  Um so there's a problem with accountability in the system.
• 12:14
  And with 88 different county board of elections, they're all interpreting their roles and what they pick and choose what they want to follow in terms of the law.
• 12:23
  So there's a void in leadership at the top of the executive level government to hold board of elections accountable when they don't follow the law or they don't know how to implement it because there's no standards or criteria.
• 12:36
  And all these things can't I became aware of in the last few years.
• 12:40
  So my goal here is to straighten out verifiability by qualifying voter eligibility up front.
• 12:46
  Then I want to address the issues of insecurity of voting systems and the non-transparency of vote casting machines.
• 12:53
  You're talking about systems that are certified today to a 2005 standard, totally unacceptable for the fact that they're critical infrastructure and they're highly susceptible to access from external or even internal means.
• 13:06
  And we can't have our votes potentially um intercepted, tampered with, um, and they've added more and more voting system technology over the last 20 years, which is it which is not independently or third-party verifiable.
• 13:21
  So we we've given an exemption to the voting system industry to not have to meet standards, and I want to change that as Ohio Secretary of State.
• 13:28
  I want to require and compel vendors and suppliers of voting systems to have to actually meet security controls that are equivalent to today's requirements of any type of critical infrastructure.
• 13:42
  So those are the two areas that I'm going to work on diligently.
• 13:47
  Well, what is election integrity to you?
• 13:50
  I know it means different things to different people.
• 13:52
  And in your mind, when you hear those words, what do you think it means?
• 13:57
  It means that the process is fair, honest, and accurate.
• 14:00
  And it means that everybody who's working within the enterprise of voting, whether that be the poll workers who are, you know, given limited training but serve an important voluntary role, or it's the election administrators who are permanent employees, or it's the executive level office, the secretary of state who sets the directives, the guidelines.
• 14:20
  Every one of them has to follow and adhere to rules and laws that are equal and fair and consistent in their application across the board.
• 14:29
  And in a in a process of integrity from what I have experienced in the military is doing what's right when nobody's looking.
• 14:36
  Okay.
• 14:37
  And that's an important concept, right?
• 14:39
  Because there are inevitably times when if you say something because somebody messed up, and that could be either deliberate or it could be not deliberate, um, you're bound to take um criticism and potentially um hurt the reputation of somebody that you respect or like.
• 14:59
  And when we create cutouts and exemptions for people for political reasons or for reasons of friendship or loyalty, we, in effect, are degrading the integrity of the system of voting.
• 15:13
  And we already have, I think, a confidence crisis in this area across the country.
• 15:19
  And we can't afford to have a lack of trust and confidence in the elections because then people will not participate.
• 15:25
  And if they don't participate, Jeff, then they we lose that one equalizer we have as Americans to have an equal voice regardless of what aspect or strata of society we come from.
• 15:39
  Um and this is something that is absolutely critical to the per persevering of the constitutional republic.
• 15:47
  What do you think happened in 2020 that really uh uh obviously a lot happened, but do you point to any particular thing or things that really eroded trust?
• 16:02
  Yes.
• 16:02
  Uh when when new rules were created about six to seven months before 2020, when law firms weaponized across Washington, DC to initiate lawfare lawsuits in the states to expand voter access, which has never really been explicit in the lot of laws to make it easier or more accommodative.
• 16:24
  And this took place under something unique.
• 16:26
  It was the pretext of COVID.
• 16:28
  Even in Ohio, we canceled an election, um, which affected many races.
• 16:33
  It cost us 30 million dollars to do it.
• 16:36
  Um, and we did all of this irrespective of the constitution because of the view that public health uh effectively an arbitrary rulemaking body in terms of the way they conducted themselves, said so.
• 16:51
  So we violated an inordinate amount of rights in this country without consequence, without accountability.
• 16:59
  And that's what played out over the course of six months.
• 17:01
  One side became particularly organized.
• 17:03
  I would say the Democrats in loosening any form of voter access safeguards to make it as the most accommodative that would suit what they thought would be a boonfall of voters for their side, and the other side did not organize on the Republican side at the national level, and they allowed their individual states to figure out how to fight that off.
• 17:26
  And by the time it was all over, there were a number of states like Wisconsin, which were violating their own laws and using drop boxes when they never had a right to use drop boxes.
• 17:35
  It was never prescribed within their law.
• 17:37
  And then by the time all the ballots were counted, days and if not weeks after the election, um, certification came closely, uh, not long after.
• 17:46
  And then the cowardice, I think, of a lot of courts and a lot of judges that didn't want to weigh in on this, decided to dismiss regardless of the evidence that was brought forward for discovery, the vast majority of cases to show the impropriety that was taking place.
• 18:02
  And so really this happened throughout COVID in our entire country.
• 18:06
  It's like those who had the authority chose not to use it.
• 18:10
  They chose to um walk away from from standing for the constitution and for their fellow Americans who were vulnerable.
• 18:19
  And when that takes place in the in the amount that it happened, um, people's lives were obviously and people were harmed in ways that I don't think has ever happened in American history.
• 18:31
  You're listening to the Maha Lowdown on America Out Loud Network, and we'll be back in a few moments.
• 18:38
  This is Dr.
• 18:38
  Peter McCullough.
• 18:39
  You know me from America Out Loud Pulse and the McCullough report.
• 18:43
  Well, I'm inviting you to join me in Nashville, July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, for a truly historic experience in 2026.
• 18:51
  America Outloud News 250 slash 10 Nashville.
• 18:55
  I'm calling all patriots to be a part of this unforgettable weekend, packed with expired entertainment, incredible fireworks, and nationally recognized speakers who proudly stand for freedom.
• 19:07
  Together with you and our partners, Clear and the Wellness Company, we'll celebrate two major milestones: 250 years of America and 10 years of America Out Loud News, led by Malcolm Out Loud.
• 19:20
  I can't wait to see you there because your presence matters and you are family.
• 19:25
  So make history with me and Malcolm.
• 19:27
  Register now at AmericaOutloud.news forward slash Nashville.
• 19:32
  That's America Outloud.news, forward slash national.
• 19:36
  We'll see you there.
• 20:00
  Free body.com forward slash out loud, get the daily V stack, protect yourself, boost your immune system, and save 20% on your first order.
• 20:09
  Are you struggling with thinning hair or excessive shedding?
• 20:12
  I know I am.
• 20:13
  Discover roots from the wellness company.
• 20:15
  It's a doctor-formulated hydrogel with seven powerful peptides that help repair and restore visibly thicker, fuller hair.
• 20:22
  It also contains methylene blue, which boosts mitochondrial function and nourishes your scalp without any oily residue, whether it's stress, hormones, or aging.
• 20:31
  This formula targets the root cause, literally.
• 20:34
  Visit TWC.
• 20:52
  Welcome back to the Maha Lowdown.
• 20:54
  I'm Jeff Lauder back.
• 20:55
  Continuing the conversation with Marcel Sturbich.
• 20:59
  And is that that is another thing that people can learn about you, Marcel?
• 21:03
  Is how you pronounce your last name.
• 21:05
  Yeah, I'm vowel deficient.
• 21:07
  And we we only got one loan vowel in there.
• 21:09
  It's an I.
• 21:09
  Yeah, it's Sturbage.
• 21:11
  Yeah, I imagine some people want to say stribbich or strip, or you probably heard uh a wide variety uh of things.
• 21:18
  There's a bunch of good ones out there for sure.
• 21:21
  So let's continue what we were talking about before about um we were really touching on 2020, and obviously in Ohio there was a lot of uh consternation among people about uh uh how Amy Acton handled things, who obviously Amy Acton's running for governor on the Democrat side, and there were a lot of uh there was a lot of opposition to how Governor Mike DeWine handled things, and then I know Frank LaRose uh took a lot of heat for how he handled some things, uh especially the uh move in the election.
• 22:00
  Is that uh I know COVID was a wake-up call for a lot of us.
• 22:04
  I mean, that's how I started getting into advocacy because of that.
• 22:08
  Uh what did you learn from that that really uh shaped what you're doing now?
• 22:15
  I saw it as a societal issue, no matter what institution you were in.
• 22:19
  Again, I was serving on active duty at the highest levels of the Pentagon, but I found that the people who had the most authority or the most responsibility were the ones that were the easiest to go along to get along with whatever the rule setting was.
• 22:31
  And then they were almost like they took the risk relationship to mean that they were the ones at greatest risk when they weren't, where it was the rest of the people down the line in society that had to bear the the brunt of really poorly construed policy, uh harmful policy.
• 22:49
  And what I saw in Ohio politics, again, from a distance were executive level leaders who refused to speak out because they fancied for themselves, I believe, a political career beyond COVID.
• 23:02
  And while they may have not liked the shutdowns in Ohio, and they didn't have a voice or a backbone to say anything about it for their own political preservation.
• 23:12
  And I have a real problem with that because I'm running as a Secretary of State candidate with the interests of people in mind, not special interests.
• 23:20
  I've taken no special interest money.
• 23:22
  My opponent who's running is the treasurer who's been in office for 15 years.
• 23:26
  He doesn't have a policy position to his name because he's a go-along to get along guy.
• 23:31
  And these people have never stood in defense of others.
• 23:36
  Like I've stood in defense of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the context of active duty service.
• 23:42
  I've fought so that other people overseas can have a right to choose their governance and and and build a nation state, which was a failure in Iraq and Afghanistan per se.
• 23:52
  But I was still there doing the cause because that's what the country and the leadership at the national level security level asked us to do.
• 23:59
  Where were the people in Columbus, you know, hiding, uh wearing their masks or really not wearing them when they were behind closed doors while the rest of the population was made to um, you know, bow down to this regime of servitude and this control politicking.
• 24:17
  So I will tell you that it's hard for me to respect people like that because to whom much is given, much is expected.
• 24:25
  Is it's a biblical principle.
• 24:27
  It's something that we exercise and say, remind ourselves when we're promoted in the military.
• 24:31
  And these people, much was given, but but very poor results were received.
• 24:36
  In fact, harm was was was dished out.
• 24:38
  Um, and so I don't believe that they deserve to continue to be re-elected.
• 24:42
  Um, because you know, if they can't stand in the most difficult times like that, they won't be able to protect our individual rights and liberties in the future.
• 24:51
  Um, and they were unworthy of those positions that they served in.
• 24:55
  How do you think your military experience will help you perform the job if you're elected?
• 25:01
  Because that I would think that you had uh being secretary of state would have one of the more versatile and interesting backgrounds.
• 25:11
  I do have a background in a variety of fields and areas of focus from emerging and disruptive technologies, and my experiences lend very well to serving in a large kind of organization like the Secretary of State with multiple uh areas of focus, business services, election administration, and campaign finance reporting, and as well as record record retention.
• 25:32
  Um that comes down to the fact that when you're in the military and you serve in a time of war, you have to serve under conditions of pressure and ambiguity, and you have to be very focused on the mission and be results and outcome oriented.
• 25:46
  And that's a lot different than political um initiatives because political initiatives are tend to be very self-serving because you're always viewing issues from the lens of if I do this, how does this impact my political standing, my reputation among my peers?
• 26:03
  I think in the military, when there's life in Limb on the line, um, and you have to be very creative because you're in an austere environment, and I served in many um austere environments overseas.
• 26:16
  Uh, you have to look to others around you for how you would accomplish your your set of objectives.
• 26:23
  You have to define your objectives.
• 26:25
  So when I look at the Secretary of State position, I define the vision that I want.
• 26:28
  And I want a one-day one vote system.
• 26:31
  So I want us to get back to the same day in-person voting, with exceptions, of course, for those who cannot be on in a at the precinct polling location on election day.
• 26:41
  And I we will make fair and consistent application of those uh privileges, because it is a privilege.
• 26:49
  I I would say it's a privilege to be able to vote outside of the polling location.
• 26:53
  Um, and and we need a system like that to maximize the trust and transparency that are currently uh at the root of people's distrust um in this country and a lack of accountability.
• 27:04
  So if if we can restore that key system in Ohio and we can push out bad actors from third-party groups who have no business handling our registrations and ballots, we will be well on our way to increasing confidence, which will increase participation in the system, which will increase people's trust, confidence in the outcomes, and will strengthen our civil society.
• 27:28
  Why do you think that uh malin voting is so ripe for fraud and and for cheating?
• 27:36
  I think that the key aspect of it of its vulnerability stems from the fact that of a concept called chain of custody.
• 27:44
  And when you vote in person, you handle your ballot the entire time it's given to you.
• 27:49
  You don't let anybody else hold it, you don't let anybody else mark it, you don't let anybody else transport it.
• 27:55
  Okay.
• 27:56
  You literally walk it from station to station until it's counted, right?
• 28:00
  Under the current construct.
• 28:02
  When you take your ballot and you put it in what is the largest polling location in the world, the U.S.
• 28:08
  Postal Service, it is subject to a number of transfer points, a number of check-in points, and these are not elected officials.
• 28:18
  Okay.
• 28:21
  And these postal workers are also members of postal worker unions.
• 28:27
  Impulsal worker unions are political entities that have consistently supported um certain parties in this case.
• 28:37
  And so it really calls into question the objectivity of it, not to mention the logistics of it.
• 28:44
  And any time your ballot is subject to somebody else's handling, which is why I think a lot of countries don't do this, except the United States, um, you are incurring a risk.
• 28:54
  Okay.
• 28:55
  And postmarks, by the way, they can be completely tampered with without any ability of anyone to know it.
• 29:02
  So this is just not the optimum way.
• 29:05
  Although I will tell you, I have had to use postal service voting for many years because for 20 years as an active duty service member, I was rarely home in my home state to cast a ballot.
• 29:16
  So I had no choice as a uniformed overseas or you know, displaced service member from active duty from my state to use this method, but we're wrong if we think that we should elevate or prioritize voter convenience or ballot accessibility in this country, which is what we've done over voter verifiability, security, and the assuredness that our ballots or our registrations are not being tampered with.
• 29:41
  And that's the difference.
• 29:42
  I can be the candidate and the secretary of state that's going to reverse that priority and rebalance the equation.
• 29:49
  I think that's interesting and not really thought about a whole lot as far as military members and the challenges that they have with voting.
• 29:58
  What do you think can be done?
• 30:00
  Or do you plan on doing anything to change how military members vote or cast their ballots?
• 30:06
  I think the system is done well currently.
• 30:08
  It's it's guided under federal law, not state law.
• 30:11
  So you can do very little as far as the Secretary of States, you know, which are individual positions that oversee elections in every state.
• 30:18
  They can't mess with the uniformed overseas.
• 30:21
  Um, how would I put it?
• 30:23
  Uh, act that that gives the uniform members access to and the opportunity to vote or register and so forth 40 some days before the election and cast their ballots.
• 30:32
  So Congress is the one that maintains the authority over that.
• 30:35
  But I will tell you there are instances that are starting to appear in the last several years that go well beyond uniform service members and their family um members overseas.
• 30:46
  Now we're starting to see a push by third party groups to try to ballot gather and ballot harvest overseas.
• 30:53
  In fact, there were these entities in the 2020 election which were making a concerted effort to contact American expats who live overseas to get them to vote in the election.
• 31:04
  Um, and so there's some serious questions.
• 31:06
  For example, if you have a couple that is American and they have a child overseas, so think about that.
• 31:14
  That's happening all the time.
• 31:15
  Um, if that child grows up and at the age of 18, they're considered an American, but they've never lived in the United States.
• 31:23
  They've never been domiciled at an address in the United States.
• 31:27
  Did you know that they can still cast a ballot by putting the address, for example, in cases like where their parents lived the last time in the country?
• 31:36
  So there's some really serious questions.
• 31:39
  I'll give you another example.
• 31:40
  We're having this big debate in the U.S.
• 31:42
  Supreme Court about birthright citizenship, right?
• 31:45
  And we'll see what the Supreme Court decides to do.
• 31:48
  But my understanding is that there's tens of thousands of people born of Chinese descent, Iranian descent, other countries, Russian descent, and in their constitutions, they are considered Chinese citizens who have to be in support of the state and of the country of China.
• 32:05
  If they were technically born here on vacation by their parents, they're American citizens and they're living in Shanghai.
• 32:12
  Are they going to be able to cast ballots in American elections, even though they've never lived here?
• 32:17
  And we can question whether there's a loyalty there to this country or China.
• 32:21
  I mean, we have all kinds of issues that we never foresaw when we gave the military members the right to vote.
• 32:27
  And these are the areas we have to address because of irresponsible and unvetted immigration into this country.
• 32:43
  How have you been uh or have you been surprised?
• 32:47
  Uh, have you been awakened about how this outside money influences elections?
• 32:55
  It's very it it's it's astounding.
• 32:57
  It's very disconcerting to know that there are you know a small group of people that even money that can be funneled through super packs in the United States that can be flushed from foreigners into different packs for federal races for state races, and the degree of influence that that has.
• 33:16
  Um, even many in the party bow down to money at the state level, and they won't support a superior candidate because of the view that an incumbent or someone who's already elected has access to more money.
• 33:31
  So it's a highly corruptive influence, and I understand the decision about Citizens United in 2010 that one cannot infringe on the First Amendment expression of someone to donate, but I feel like it just like every ref so-called reform of campaign finance, which by the way, I would have oversight of in Ohio in terms of the reporting of that for candidates.
• 33:52
  Um, it is highly problematic um in terms of the corruptive influence that it can have.
• 33:57
  And it's and it's corrupted Ohio's uh citizen-led referendums because under the um perception that it's a citizen-led referendum, it's millions of dollars pouring into our state for a variety of issues to change Ohio's constitution.
• 34:12
  So I don't know if we can get this back.
• 34:14
  It's got to be something we ought to work on piece by piece.
• 34:17
  I think the only solution is to shine a light on it to undertake true third-party independent audits of campaign finance uh and to be equal in the application of it, irrespective of if it's you're a Republican or a Democrat, irrespective of who is the one in the system that's receiving it.
• 34:34
  And I think that's why a lot of people are wary about my candidacy, because I'm a very principled person.
• 34:39
  And um, I'm not gonna sit here and cut breaks to different groups of people because of who they are.
• 34:46
  If it's something that's uh being applied against the law or if it's something that indicates corruption, um, we have we have to shine a light on it.
• 34:55
  That's the only way we're going to preserve our country.
• 34:58
  How do you think the Secretary of State uh role is Maha related?
• 35:03
  Because you talked about uh earlier in our conversation about your feelings and uh your ambitions and what you did back uh during COVID when that was going on.
• 35:14
  But uh, how do you think it is now uh in the Secretary of State role related to the Maha?
• 35:21
  Because you're you're endorsed by the Maha Institute and uh, and I know that was a recent endorsement.
• 35:26
  Uh, what are your thoughts about that?
• 35:28
  I'm proud of that endorsement, and I'm proud that that we're fighting the good fight to get toxins out of our food.
• 35:33
  We're fighting the fight uh to get fluoride to uh uh um uh consumable fluoride out of out of our water.
• 35:40
  And these are areas that we need to really revisit and rethink, right?
• 35:44
  We have turbo cancers that came about heavily out of out of mRNA technology.
• 35:48
  I'm aware of all these things, and and thank God we have people now in the health and human services that are willing to allow valid studies to be conducted and not censor the science or buy the science, which is what I always used to enjoy reading when uh RFK would talk about that within a lot of his literature and in his videos.
• 36:06
  But but that this is the only way to to make sure that we we we restore and return to that.
• 36:12
  Now, the Secretary of State can play a vital role because let's say there's a constitutional ballot referendum put forward by a citizen.
• 36:18
  The Secretary of State is the final authority that reviews the language that is finalized to go on a ballot and is the deciding vote of five members on a on a on a group called the ballot board, the Ohio ballot board.
• 36:31
  So we can make sure that corruptive influence in terms of how that's written is is done in a way that people can actually understand their their ballot initiatives, not confuse them with legalistic language, so that they can make a uh a truly informed decision about a type of matter they want to carry forward if they're gonna lead a referendum to change it because they're uh frustrated that the legislature, for example, won't carry legislation.
• 36:57
  In Ohio, we haven't been able to carry legislation to even have Ivermectin um purchased uh, I think commercially.
• 37:05
  Um, we have not followed the lead of Florida or other states in that regard.
• 37:10
  Um, and and that is because there's a very powerful lobby that uh plays a prominent role over the leaders in in our legislature.
• 37:17
  Um, and so when there's legislation introduced each and every year by advocates like the Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom and others, um, they never get through the committee process.
• 37:28
  They're spiked, or the committee chairs are warned not to bring it through, or they'll you know face their own punitive punishment in the form of primaries, or they won't get money for their next election.
• 37:38
  And and so our agenda is being held hostage by people who are bought and paid if you want to say that.
• 37:43
  And that's frustrating, right?
• 37:45
  Because our human health should should go well above technology, well above above corporate greed.
• 37:51
  Um, and I thought and I hope that we're still making a turn in our country for the first time in decades to do that.
• 37:58
  And I'm excited about that on a personal level, but I will be objective and fair as a secretary of state.
• 38:05
  You're listening to the Maha Lowdown.
• 38:07
  I'm Jeff Lauterbach.
• 38:08
  We're on the America Outloud Network, and we'll be back with Marcel Sturbich in a few moments.
• 38:13
  I cannot tell a lie.
• 38:14
  My sinuses are blocked, George.
• 38:17
  You crossed the Delaware.
• 38:19
  You can cross congestion.
• 38:21
  Here, try clear.
• 38:25
  Freedom smells like victory.
• 38:27
  Come celebrate 250 years of American independence, but the America out loud 25010 independence day celebration in Nashville on July 2nd through 4th.
• 38:41
  Go to America 250, Nashville.com.
• 38:44
  Use code XLEAR for 20% off admission.
• 38:48
  Clear.
• 38:49
  Breathe in the independence.
• 38:51
  The smartest food on the planet doesn't come from a lab or in a package.
• 38:56
  It grows in a glass jar.
• 38:59
  I'm Doug Evans, author of the national bestseller, The Sprout Book.
• 39:03
  Sprouts deliver up to a hundred times the antioxidants of mature vegetables.
• 39:09
  They grow in just three to five days for under a dollar serving.
• 39:13
  Get your sprouting kit at the sprouting company.com slash out loud.
• 39:19
  Use the code out loud for an exclusive offer.
• 39:22
  Grow smarter.
• 39:24
  Welcome back to the Maha Lowdown.
• 39:26
  I'm Jeff Lauterbach.
• 39:28
  Uh we're already in our final 17 minute segment, Marcel.
• 39:32
  And uh I think this is an interesting discussion that I think this is educational for a lot of people because people are learning that the Secretary of State is multi-dimensional as far as the responsibilities.
• 39:45
  And I know we've talked before, I think uh I believe it was in Springfield that you were appearing at a candidates forum that I heard you talk a little bit about the how the Secretary of State can address fraud and um.
• 40:00
  What can you tell us about that about how that relates and what your plan is there?
• 40:05
  Well, certainly we don't want people to have votes either cast fraudulently in their name or just overall fraudulent.
• 40:12
  And that's possible because we have a weak system of review and verification that's been broken for a long time that process.
• 40:18
  And we don't equip the board of elections with the necessary information to even detect fraud.
• 40:23
  And that's the big part that I get a lot of pushback on.
• 40:26
  People say, well, you want to make all these changes, Marcel, to Secretary of State.
• 40:30
  And why Ohio?
• 40:31
  Because show me the evidence.
• 40:32
  Show me the evidence.
• 40:33
  That's not how it works, right?
• 40:34
  What is the scientific method?
• 40:36
  You're supposed to disprove, not prove something through confirmation bias.
• 40:39
  You also don't wait till your house is broken into or your bank account is um stolen, you know, to take actions, preventative actions and measures.
• 40:48
  That's called risk management.
• 40:51
  Okay.
• 40:51
  And people need to look at elections like a risk management framework.
• 40:55
  All right.
• 40:56
  And so what I would do is I would equip the board of elections with the means to identify and detect, which is the same thing I did as an Intel officer in the military.
• 41:06
  You can't go after an enemy network, a terror cell, if you can't identify and detect their operational uh identify where they're at, their pattern of life.
• 41:17
  So you you've got we I take a systems of systems view, okay, when I look at a problem.
• 41:22
  And that's the benefit of having the type of training that I have as an Intel officer.
• 41:26
  I can take a complex problem, break it up, and then reform an understanding of that in ways that can lead to process improvement.
• 41:34
  Okay.
• 41:35
  And that is what I think is missing with the political hacks that continually utilize this position as a stepping stone.
• 41:41
  Um, this is not about um a career in politics for me.
• 41:45
  This is a cause.
• 41:47
  And and we, if we can have a tight process and I and I know how to deliver that, um, we will be in a better position to detect the fraud.
• 41:54
  Now, if I end up doing all this, of course, and there's very little fraud, then that's good too, right?
• 42:00
  Because we can come back and we can say, look, we've implemented this, we've seen very little of it.
• 42:04
  Um, and that's a win.
• 42:05
  I'm not trying to get to a point where I say, oh, I'm right.
• 42:08
  You see, that's why we did what we did.
• 42:10
  But if you think about what I'm really trying to do, I'm really just trying to restore transparency, public oversight over every phase of the election system, and get to ultimately the objective, which is what?
• 42:22
  Full accountability.
• 42:24
  Okay.
• 42:24
  And if we can get to that point in society where we can be accountable to ourselves and we can make people powerful people, any anybody for that matter, accountable, then we will have a brighter future in this country.
• 42:36
  Um, why we have had our rights removed and stripped and harm done to us during COVID was because what became broken was accountability.
• 42:46
  And that's why people are so um adamant in this Trump administration that people be held to account for what some would call crimes against others because they want to know that the American system of rule of law is not dead, that it still applies to every single person, no matter how powerful or how protected they perceive themselves to be.
• 43:13
  And I truly believe in that uh principle of the American system.
• 43:18
  And if we get away from that, we'll be no different than the dysfunctional countries that I had to go to and serve in as part of my active duty service.
• 43:26
  And America's worth protecting and it's worth preserving that system.
• 43:29
  But it's going to take brave political outsiders like myself, who have a principle who have a strong conscience that's intact, um, who are willing to look at this from the perspective of what is in the interest of humanity, what is in the interest of the people, why am I even here?
• 43:44
  Why did they elect me?
• 43:45
  They elected me to serve them.
• 43:47
  They didn't elect me to cut breaks for others.
• 43:50
  Uh, and I think a new type of person has to emerge in the political system of the United States, and many like me have to come up in order for this to start to be indicators to start to be in in outcomes to be achieved.
• 44:03
  And you had mentioned before that you are running to be secretary of state.
• 44:09
  You don't have aspirations to be governor or uh run for senate or any other political office.
• 44:16
  That's true.
• 44:16
  I have a young family.
• 44:18
  It was a lot for me, even to go into uh uh pursuit of elected office, especially at an executive statewide level, which is unheard of in Ohio.
• 44:26
  It's uh you know in this state, it's uh wait your turn.
• 44:28
  Oh, it's my turn, your entitled kind of system.
• 44:31
  Um, and so for me to do this is a big deal, but I don't do anything timidly.
• 44:36
  Uh I'm very bold, I'm decisive.
• 44:38
  Um, and again, I lead with an a clear understanding of what I'm trying to do.
• 44:42
  I don't just uh do things randomly.
• 44:44
  I I really do think through why I'm doing something and I try to I try to think through how to best communicate it to people so that you know we build the strength in numbers.
• 44:54
  I think what I'm proposing is appealing to everyone on any end of the political spectrum.
• 45:00
  We are tired of fighting over elections, outcomes, cheating, lack of accountability.
• 45:06
  Um, no matter how you feel about the current administration or its policies, you the vast majority of Americans want to turn over a better future for the next generation.
• 45:17
  And um, to the extent that they fight, they fight because they misunderstand one another because of the degree of propaganda that they are exposed to in the media space, and the fact that we have been dumbed down in our ability to think critically and we have been turned against one another.
• 45:34
  And um, that's unfortunate because we have far more in common when we can get past the political talking points and the um the false equivalency arguments that get thrown at us all the time.
• 45:48
  You earlier in our conversation mentioned the musical chairs, and I know that's the source of a lot of frustration for voters in Ohio and even uh conservatives and and Republicans and obviously you have uh with with your uh can or the the man you're running against, uh uh Robert Sprague, I know he he has a long political career, and I and you alluded to the fact that he did, I believe he initially had expressed interest in being governor and that didn't happen.
• 46:24
  And I know uh I'm covering the Senate race, the uh who's dead Brown race, and I know initially there's talk that he might be interested in that, and that it didn't happen, and then he uh he's treasurer now, now he now he's running for secretary of state.
• 46:39
  And what backlash have you gotten from the establishment?
• 46:46
  Uh I know we when we were talking earlier, uh, I think it was a few weeks ago.
• 46:51
  Even I was surprised at some of the things you told me about what you've encountered.
• 46:56
  Yeah, it's it's mind-blowing.
• 46:58
  Um, first he did announce for governor, he wasn't thinking about it.
• 47:02
  He announced that he was going to be a governor in this election cycle.
• 47:05
  So he was all in for governor until Vivek came into the race, and then it was a money money equation, which it always is for these guys.
• 47:11
  And he didn't think he had the resources to win.
• 47:14
  And so, and rather than do what he wanted, he he bowed out and waited, and that's why he's trying to accept this other position.
• 47:20
  But here's here's kind of how my race went, right?
• 47:22
  I was an advocate for two, three years.
• 47:24
  I tried to get the Secretary of State's attention on these issues of election system vulnerabilities and potential for fraud and other issues, and I was ignored.
• 47:33
  And after two, three years of trying everything that I could do as an as a statewide advocate in this space, going to the national level, becoming an expert in an advocacy of election integrity, at least in our state of Ohio.
• 47:45
  I decided to run.
• 47:46
  And then at that point, I was dismissed.
• 47:49
  So it starts out with he's a nobody.
• 47:52
  Where's his money going to come from?
• 47:53
  Don't worry about him, ignore him.
• 47:56
  And then I started to go everywhere, build coalitions of support in every county, recruit hundreds of volunteers, and I raised 200,000, um, mostly small money initially, some money of my own, but not the vast majority of that, just to put some skin in the game.
• 48:13
  Okay.
• 48:14
  And then I started to pick up more small donor support to the point where we had about 5,000 small donors today.
• 48:20
  Okay.
• 48:20
  So no PACs, all small donors.
• 48:23
  So you know I'm not bought and paid.
• 48:25
  And eventually we got to January, and I started winning all kinds of county party central and committee endorsements.
• 48:32
  The way this works is every county in Ohio has a party, a Republican party, and they vet candidates.
• 48:37
  And I started to win six out of seven of them.
• 48:39
  Whenever I was allowed to compete, I won because my message is powerful and my presentation is compelling and authentic.
• 48:46
  And then the party got spooked.
• 48:49
  Um, I also took a uh a poll, a scientific poll of 800 plus registered primary Republican voters, and we were winning by eight points.
• 48:57
  We had equal name ID, higher favorability, and they were shocked.
• 49:01
  And so I think what happened is the state party summoned the state party went into panic mode, and they quickly organized an effort to endorse in my competitive, non-incumbent open primary race, so that they can ensure that my opponent could have access to reduced mailing fees, um, field reps, and other intangible in-kind contribution benefits, which questionably they don't report.
• 49:24
  Yet ironically, they tried to say that I didn't report the transfer of a social media page.
• 49:30
  So it's rules for thee, but not for me when you're a political outsider.
• 49:34
  And um I continue to grow great momentum as we enter the final stretch here, and we're actually voting in Ohio and elections May 5th.
• 49:42
  So I'm encouraging everybody to take a stand for a fellow Maha advocate and election integrity supporter and someone who can get the job done because I'm not here to build a career, I'm here to do the job.
• 49:54
  And I think that's a foreign concept for these guys.
• 49:57
  So, yes, they're very nervous.
• 49:59
  Um, we've got
• 50:00
  An exceptional digital media platform that is reaching hundreds of thousands of people.
• 50:06
  I encourage everyone to go to at Marcel M-A-R-C-E-L-L Sturbich, S-T-R-B-I-C-H on X, and then on Facebook at Marcel M-A-R-C-E-L-L for spelled out Ohio.
• 50:17
  And I ask you to be a part of that platform to repost, like and you know, do the things that amplify our message.
• 50:23
  And I'll be honest with you, uh, we are shaping up for a huge upset on election night here.
• 50:29
  And um it would be monumental for me to prevail as a political outsider first-time candidate at statewide office.
• 50:36
  And I'll tell you why.
• 50:37
  Because it would mean that despite all of the insider advantages, the money, the donor network, the party endorsement, right?
• 50:46
  I would have shown I would have been able to defeat all of that.
• 50:50
  And it sends a message that no matter what party you are, you're not just going to be able to strong arm a political outsider that's for the people.
• 50:59
  And and this is, I believe, the environment we are in in the mid-2020s.
• 51:04
  I think there are going to be a tremendous amount of surprises in this country.
• 51:09
  You saw it with the progressives in New York upending things.
• 51:13
  You saw Mamdami, you saw these guys beat all these iconoclastic party guys that were, you know, made.
• 51:20
  It's happening here in Ohio, and I just believe I'm at the tip of the spear of that.
• 51:24
  And personally, you know, I I have my as a journalist when I cover races and cover politics.
• 51:31
  Obviously, I remain objective, but what then I like on social media and and sometimes on this show, I'll voice my own opinion, which is my opinion.
• 51:43
  So it just bothers me, the the Ohio Republican politics, the the musical chairs and then the uh state central committee, the endorsements, the statewide endorsements, because I'm I'm not a big fan of the state party endorsing any uh any primary because of the unfair advantages, but I just think it would be it would be very monumental if a political outsider could win because it could uh I would think that it would reshape who runs in the future.
• 52:20
  I don't know what your thoughts about that as far as what you'd be setting the stage for, in addition to what you want to implement as Secretary of State.
• 52:27
  But if you are able to overcome all these uh challenges, uh, how do you think it would uh encourage others?
• 52:36
  Well, we're already in the midst of a political revolution.
• 52:38
  It started with someone who was an economic nationalist and a participatory populist named Donald J.
• 52:44
  Trump in 2016.
• 52:45
  And despite all of the opposition at the time, uh Governor Kasich and others who strong armed various state central committee members to not support him, he prevailed.
• 52:54
  And when he prevailed, now you had two U.S.
• 52:57
  senators running at the federal level.
• 52:59
  I'm talking about JD Vance and Senator Bernie Moreno, who won in both subsequent cycles.
• 53:04
  And they almost experienced the same.
• 53:06
  They did.
• 53:06
  In fact, JD Vance never won a single county endorsement from the party, right?
• 53:11
  And Senator Bernie Moreno maybe had a different perspective or treatment because you know he came in through the private sector, some independent wealth there.
• 53:20
  Um, but that helped.
• 53:21
  But he was still not welcomed with an open uh rolling out of the carpet, right?
• 53:26
  He outworked his opponents.
• 53:27
  Um, he outmessaged them.
• 53:29
  He was much more compelling, and he got people who normally don't get off their butts to go and knock doors.
• 53:34
  I knocked doors for Senator Bernie Moreno.
• 53:36
  I never did that before.
• 53:37
  So my point to you is that is the type of enthusiasm.
• 53:42
  When when Senator Bernie Moreno posted yesterday, America First is the only way in the future of a viable Republican Party, he's not lying.
• 53:50
  It is.
• 53:51
  Um, so this is not going to be a system of patronage anymore.
• 53:55
  And there are too many Republican voters that do not want to be a minority resist opposition government.
• 54:01
  Okay.
• 54:02
  They are by for and through the people.
• 54:04
  And that is the only way we're going to be able to build enthusiasm in 2026.
• 54:09
  So when it comes to me, I saw what happened with with uh now the vice president Senator Moreno, and I said, now it's time in a sense that we do this at the statewide level because despite all of these changes and in eight years and all in federal Ohio candidates, we have not really seen that evolution occur in Ohio statewide politics.
• 54:33
  It's almost like the group that was there at the beginning is still there.
• 54:38
  They're still guiding who they're picking, they're still ensuring who gets in is the one that's going to vote the way they tell them to vote when it's time to vote that way.
• 54:46
  And and that is why I think we reached a point of apathy in this cycle with that with the issues, because we did not follow the evolution of this movement, which began and showed great strength in Ohio.
• 55:01
  So I offer, if I win the opportunity to uplift every down ballot ticket with this message because there's no candidate like me right now running in Ohio.
• 55:11
  And I think it's important that I win because it will pave the way for others like me who will see my success, our success is what I call it, because I don't see this as about me.
• 55:21
  This is a sacrificial position and thing that I'm doing, but it will ultimately start to change uh for the better our political system and unstagnate us.
• 55:32
  We're coming down to the final 45 seconds.
• 55:35
  Uh, Marcel, I appreciate you joining me.
• 55:38
  Uh, where can people find more details about you?
• 55:41
  Check out my my page at uh sturbich for ohio.com, S T R B I C H for Ohio, F O R Ohio.com.
• 55:49
  You'll find out more about my ideas and positions.
• 55:51
  You'll see I've taken a clear position on property tax abolition, on restrictions um and and more oversight environmental impact and feasibility oversight over data centers.
• 56:01
  I am not afraid to speak out about any issue that I have knowledge of or convictions for um to the people.
• 56:09
  And I think that's what people want to know.
• 56:10
  It's not just my election integrity.
• 56:12
  Um, it's I'm a person of broad knowledge and depth on a variety of areas, and I could be a strong voice for for the people and for those who follow Maha.
• 56:21
  Um I it would be it would be solid to have an ally of the movement in statewide executive office.
• 56:28
  And I'm I'm asking humbly for your vote on May 5th, 2026.
• 56:31
  Every vote does count.
• 56:33
  Um, and you have a chance to to do something historic in the state of Ohio by electing me, Marcel Sturbich as your next next Secretary of State.
• 56:41
  Well, once again, thank you, Marcel, for joining us.
• 56:44
  And uh, that's it for this edition.
• 56:46
  I'm Jeff Lauterbach, and that is the Mahalo Dunn.