Ohio’s Republican Primary Ballot Triggers Mass Confusion

Jack Phillips
3/7/2016
Updated:
3/7/2016

The Ohio Republican primary is going to be chaos.

A group called iVoters posted a video showing that there was confusion on the Ohio primary ballot. The iVoters clip has since gone viral after IJ Review and other websites picked it up.

For the Democrat side, it’s pretty straightforward, with Roque De La Fuente, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton listed on the ballot.

The Republican ballot, however, is much more confusing, with one area for designating an at-large presidential delegate and the one below for designating a district delegate. It’s unclear if the voters get two votes, or if conflicted voters can split their votes.

According to Cincinnati.com, Ohio never changed the requirements for both boxes to be listed. What’s more, the Ohio Republican Party said only one will count.

<a href="https://pajamasmed.hs.llnwd.net/e1/trending/user-content/51/files/2016/03/Republican-Ballot-Stark-County-Ohio.pdf" target="_blank">The GOP ballot</a> in question
The GOP ballot in question

“Because there are two pathways to selecting delegates to represent Ohio at the convention, voters must vote twice — once for the congressional district delegate and once for delegate at-large,” GOP spokeswoman Brittany Warner told the website. “The votes that will be counted to determine the results are the delegates at-large.”

Needless to say, the move has caused anger, particularly the American Policy Roundtable, a conservative policy group.

“Why give people two options for president if one doesn’t count? I don’t get it,” said Rob Walgate, who is the group’s vice president. “Beyond that, people are already voting in Ohio. When were they planning to tell people? Do the candidates even know about this? There are a lot of unanswered questions.”

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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