Ohio GOP Candidate Robert Sprague’s Anti-Drop Box Ad Is Pure Election Misinformation

Robert Sprague, currently Ohio’s state treasurer and a Republican candidate for Secretary of State, has unleashed a misleading TV ad that demonizes ballot drop boxes with a grotesque puppet named “Lefty the Cheat.” The ad’s clear message: drop boxes are garbage cans for stolen votes, and if Sprague wins, he’ll “ditch the drop boxes” and “verify American citizenship” for voters — echoing Trump’s baseless claims and voter suppression efforts.

But the reality is starkly different. Ohio’s ballot drop boxes are never found on random neighborhood streets, as the ad implies. Instead, they are securely located on the property of county boards of elections — all 88 counties in the state. These boxes are under constant bipartisan supervision. By law, two election workers—one Democrat and one Republican—must use separate keys to open the boxes and retrieve ballots daily, including on election day. Ballots are then verified to ensure they come from registered voters before being counted.

Sprague’s ad ignores these facts entirely, painting a cartoonish and false picture of election chaos. The bipartisan system in Ohio has been effective for over a decade, with election officials from both parties working together to ensure accuracy and security. The suggestion that drop boxes are a tool for fraud is a deliberate lie designed to stoke fear and justify unnecessary restrictions.

Democratic candidate Bryan Hambley rightly called out Sprague’s ad as a “frightening” scare tactic aimed at misleading voters. Hambley emphasized that Ohio’s elections are already secure and criticized Sprague for aligning with Trump’s agenda, including opposing drop boxes and pushing citizenship verification measures that experts say are unnecessary and discriminatory.

This ad is not just a harmless political stunt; it’s part of a broader pattern of election denialism that undermines trust in democracy and lays the groundwork for voter suppression. Sprague’s willingness to embrace these falsehoods signals a dangerous agenda if he becomes Ohio’s chief elections officer.

Ohio voters deserve officials who protect the integrity of elections, not those who spread fear and misinformation to score political points. Sprague’s cartoonish attack on ballot drop boxes is a distraction from real issues and a direct threat to the democratic process.