Watch our interview with Allison Russo, Tom Pruss - candidates for Ohio secretary of state

NewsCleveland Crossfire is the podcast of the Editorial Board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer---By The Plain Dealer Editorial Boardcleveland.com Express DeskDemocrat Allison Russo and Libertarian Tom Pruss found agreement in their endorsement interview: Ohio’s elections work, but political interference, voting restrictions and the sharing of private voter information threaten public confidence and access to the ballot. Both criticized Republican opponent Robert Sprague, who declined to participate.We use artificial intelligence to create draft stories from transcripts of the interviews, mainly to help readers find links to the actual interviews. We have created the Cleveland Crossfire podcast to make watching or listening to these interviews convenient.Watch or listen to the interview here.Speaking with the Editorial Board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Russo, a state representative and former House minority leader, argued that the secretary of state should advocate for voters regardless of party. Pruss, a Toledo resident with experience working for the Lucas County Board of Elections and as a poll worker, emphasized better training and ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates.Russo said records she obtained showed Secretary of State Frank LaRose provided federal officials with nonpublic voter information, including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, without adequate assurances about its use. Pruss said he would demand a warrant before surrendering private information.Both praised bipartisan election workers while warning that changes to voting rules create confusion. Russo criticized eliminating the grace period for mailed ballots and said identification requirements push eligible voters into a burdensome provisional-ballot process. She also stressed the need to adequately fund local election boards.Board members pressed Russo on whether her partisan legislative record undermined her promise of impartiality. She distinguished advocating for policy as a legislator from administering election laws as secretary of state, saying she would enforce laws even when she disagreed with them. Pruss said he would judge her by her actions.Russo criticized Sprague’s proposals to eliminate ballot drop boxes and share voter data with the federal government. Pruss likewise challenged his claims about election fraud.The conversation examined campaign finance transparency. Russo called for easier access to local contribution records and warned that Ohio’s failure to enact reforms after the House Bill 6 corruption scandal leaves it vulnerable to another.This article was produced with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by Cleveland.com staff.