By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As Ohio keeps chipping away at voters’ rights, Allison Russo said she can no longer sit on the sidelines. As a candidate for Ohio Secretary of State, Russo wants to be an advocate for voters – not to stoke distrust in elections that is being spread throughout the state.
On Saturday, State Rep. Russo, D-Upper Arlington, was in Bowling Green to meet with voters and explain her priorities.
Top on the list is her belief that the Secretary of State needs to be working for voters rather than creating more hurdles for them.
That voter advocacy has been lacking in Ohio, Russo said.
On the heels of limiting each county to one ballot drop box, and restricting who can use the drop boxes, the state legislature in December passed Senate Bill 293, which eliminates the four-day grace period for mail in ballots, and increases voter registration cancellations.
According to Russo, the bill was rushed through with no testimony taken from county board of election officials. It was introduced by State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, who didn’t stay to answer questions even though there remain concerns about the bill violating federal law and using untested methods to remove voters from the rolls, Russo said.
“Maintaining accurate voter rolls matters, but not at the cost of eligible citizens losing their right to vote,” she said.
If elected, Russo said she would push back on election disinformation coming from the White House, current Secretary of State Frank LaRose and legislators like Gavarone. LaRose has contradicted himself many times by praising Ohio’s elections as safe and secure – but then focusing on rooting out supposed fraud, she said.
Russo said two of her priorities would be to rebuild the trust in the Secretary of State’s office, and to provide consistent guidance to the chief elections officers in all 88 counties.
“Your ability to vote shouldn’t depend on the county you live in,” she said.
The state office should be a backstop to extremism and attacks from the legislature, she said.
LaRose has shown hostility to voters’ rights, Russo said, by manipulating petition language, changing rules for petition signatures, changing ballot language, and rejecting voter registrations.
This is not the first time Russo has been motivated to push herself out of her comfort zone. In 2016, she made the decision to no longer be a bystander in the political process.
“I knew I had to do more,” she said. “Never again will I stay on the sidelines.”
She began by helping with the local elections, then in 2018 was approached about running for a state representative seat for Upper Arlington. She won the office, and is now in her fourth and final term.
Her platform has been focused on public schools, health care, working families, child care and senior care.
After being selected as House Minority Leader in 2022, she served on the Ohio Redistricting Commission. She spoke of the frustration as five rounds of redistricting maps failed.
“I saw people in power refuse to give up that power,” she said.
Russo called herself an “accidental politician.” She grew up in rural Mississippi with 35 students in her graduating class, and is the first elected official in her family. She was raised by a single mom, who cleaned homes and office buildings to make a living. There were tight times when they had to live with her grandma.
Life changed when Russo’s mom got an apprenticeship with the carpenter’s union – and became the only female carpenter with the union. The stable wages and benefits allowed the family to buy a home.
“She’s a tough lady to say the least,” Russo said.
Russo said she learned to have grit and to work hard from her mom.
“She said don’t take crap from anyone, and make sure you know what side of the fight you’re on.”
Russo found her pathway to opportunity through education, earning her bachelor’s and doctorate, then working as a public health epidemiologist for 20 years. She and her husband, an Air Force officer, have three children.
Russo said her experience as a state representative has prepared her for the Secretary of State position.
“These attacks will not stop. Experience matters in this office,” she said. “There is no room for a learning curve.”
A Democrat winning a state office in Ohio is going to be tough, she acknowledged.
“No one is coming to save us,” she said, adding that the national Democratic party will not be dumping a lot of money into Ohio races.
“We have to stop in rooms like this and in neighborhoods,” she said on Saturday as she spoke with people gathered around tables at Grounds for Thought in Bowling Green.
