(10-13-24) Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein and her campaign have filed a federal lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, accusing him of election interference.

The Green Party was informed that an unauthorized individual had submitted paperwork to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, requesting the withdrawal of their vice-presidential candidate from the ballot. The filing occurred after the deadline for submitting a new vice-presidential candidate, raising concerns within the campaign.

The Green Party says that the person who submitted the withdrawal form admitted that the signature on the document was not original but copy-pasted. Furthermore, the individual acknowledged they were not affiliated with the Stein campaign. Despite these admissions, the Ohio Secretary of State’s office reportedly accepted the form and subsequently declared that votes for Dr. Stein would not count in Ohio.

In an attempt to address the situation, the Stein campaign says it submitted a notarized affidavit to the Secretary of State’s office, stating that the vice-presidential candidate had not authorized the withdrawal. However, the office reportedly rejected the affidavit, claiming it lacked the required “embossed” notarization. The campaign criticized the inconsistency, pointing out that the Secretary of State had accepted the original unauthorized withdrawal form with a copy-pasted signature but rejected a legitimate affidavit.

Sample ballot from Ohio Secretary of State site –

The Ohio Secretary of State’s office has yet to release a statement regarding the lawsuit.