The proposed hiring of a liberal mega donor has set off an alarm for Republicans, who are challenging the use of out-of-state workers to answer phones and helping voters in Summit County on Election Day.
Republican and Democratic officers at the Summit County Board of Elections deadlocked Monday on the hiring of 10 people who would serve as “troubleshooters” on Election Day. They’re jobs would entail fielding phone calls from concerned and confused voters.
Five of these proposed hires, according to a list provided by Republicans, live in New York City or Connecticut.
But the name that’s raising eyebrows is Jonathan Soros, who like his father, George Soros, has donated big to liberal candidates and causes.
Soros, also like his father, runs a New York City investment firm. He is co-founder of the Friends of Democracy super PAC. His father, who heads Soros Fund Management, is among the 10 biggest donors to outside political groups this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Republicans say none of their proposed workers live outside Ohio.
As they met to review staffing levels and check over ballots with minor clerical or technical issues, Republican board members Alex Arshinkoff and Bryan Williams objected to the hiring of Soros and any other out-of-state employee. Democrats want the hiring of the 10 employees to move forward.
And so the board deadlocked. Each side said it would send its argument in writing to Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, who as Ohio’s elections chief gets to break all ties.
Republicans are using a legal opinion provided by the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office that says out-of-state employees may not serve as precinct officials. Assistant prosecutor John Galonski, whose boss is a Democrat, said the Republicans have misinterpreted the opinion, which applies only to precinct officials.
The opinion, he notes, says that “there is no authority to deny the hire of an out of state person” for positions other than “precinct official” — another term being disputed by the two sides.
Republicans also say that because the early voting center is part of the board’s main office, where the proposed workers would answer phones, the board office is in fact a polling site. And state law, they said, mostly bars non-Ohio residents from entering polling sites.
Summit County Democratic Chair Jeff Fusco said he was not aware of the situation, which could lead to more Republicans fielding phone calls on Election Day should the out-of-state Democrats be barred from working at the board of elections main office on Grant Street. Bill Rich, the Democratic chair at the board of elections, did not return phone calls seeking comment after the public meeting Monday afternoon.
Craig Kaplan, a New York attorney who provided the workers for Rich, would not comment on how or why Soros made the list. Asked to explain his intentions, Kaplan called himself “a citizen concerned about ensuring that people are able to exercise their franchise. And any assistance I can provide, and to that end, I am prepared to do.”
Williams said that with or without Soros’s name on list, he fundamentally opposes the hiring of attorneys, many from New York, to help run an Ohio election.
“Why would we take a $500-an-hour or more attorney and bring them to Akron, Ohio and pay them $13.50 an hour to work our election?” Williams said.
“It smacks of foul play.”
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .