The Ohio Supreme Court sided with the Stark County, Ohio board of elections Monday night, compelling the county commissioners to unlock funds for new voting machines — money they’d previously blocked after a wave of Trump supporters besieged them with conspiracy theories.
The county board of elections decided to buy $1.5 million worth of new voting machines manufactured by Dominion voting systems back in December. Theirs were falling apart, and they wanted to obtain new ones in time for a special election in May.
That election came and went, as county officials were locked in a conspiracy theory-infused wrestling match that made its way up to the state Supreme Court. After the all-Republican slate of county commissioners rejected the board’s vote to purchase the machines, having been overwhelmed with calls from the conspiracy theorists, the board asked the Court to force them to approve the purchase.
That decision finally came down Monday night, after the board initially filed the lawsuit in March. It wasn’t fast enough to get new machines set up for the May election, and it likely won’t be for an August one — but as county board of elections chair Sam Ferruccio confirmed to TPM Monday night, it’s fast enough to replace the machines for the November general election.
Meanwhile, an organization founded by former Trump staffers filed a separate lawsuit against the elections board, alleging that they broke open meetings laws while deciding to purchase the Dominion machines. That case is ongoing.
There was one concurrent decision and one dissent, alongside the majority in the state Supreme Court decision.
Read the Court’s decision here:
