Hyper-partisan liberals once again have their eyes on Ohio.  This time, they want to take over the office in charge of making sure the state's elections are fair, honest and transparent.  Judging from the money they're spending and false outrage they're spewing, leftists will stop at nothing until they have one of their own in charge of counting votes in Ohio.  We have to stop them. 

For eight years, I protected the integrity of Ohio elections as secretary of state.  I witnessed firsthand the tactics used by the left to undermine confidence in the electoral system.  Leftists attempt to cast doubt and assign sinister motives to processes and rules that have been in place for years.  Many of these same rules go unchallenged in uncompetitive states.

The left's media allies are eager to validate and amplify these spurious charges of disenfranchisement.

That's because capturing the Ohio secretary of state's office is vital to the left's master plan of electing America's next president.  No Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio.  A critical swing state, Ohio has voted for the winner in presidential races in twenty-eight out of the last thirty elections.  As Ohio goes, so goes the nation.

For national Democrats, it makes sense to buy the pivotal elections chief's office, with former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder and U.S. senator and presidential wannabe Elizabeth Warren leading the charge.

They have full access to the Clinton Money Machine and the Obama Operation.  While it may seem strange to witness millions of dollars pouring into a down ballot race in the heartland, there is a method to the Democrats' madness.  Delve below the surface, and you will see that the Democrats have their sights set on 2020, defeating Donald Trump, taking back the presidency.  Winning the secretary of state's race is a means to that end.

In the wrong hands, that office will become a de facto arm of the Ohio Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee.  Eric Holder and a laundry list of presidential wannabes know that.  Realizing what our rivals are capable of, Republicans should be on high alert.  They mean business.  They've got millions.  They don't fight fair.  It's that serious.

Their candidate for this high office is Kathleen Clyde.  She fits the pattern of coming from the far left of the political spectrum and being loud and confrontational in her style.  She is advancing the preposterous and obviously unconstitutional notion that if a presidential candidate does not release his taxes, he is immediately and irrevocably kept off the ballot in Ohio.  You can see how far-fetched and far left her agenda is.

In addition to being against the Constitution, she is also against the Supreme Court.  When the nation's highest court voted 7-2 in support of the efforts of our current secretary of state, Jon Husted, to clean up the state's voter file, in a fever pitch of anger, Clyde denounced the ruling.  It was a naked effort to gin up her liberal base and keep attracting the leftist and labor union dollars bankrolling her campaign.  Ambitious and aggressive, fair and transparent elections are the last thing on her mind.  Power and control are what Kathleen Clyde and the National Democrats care about.

The day Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton for president was the day the Democrats began their 2020 campaign.  The usual suspects are purported to be running: Bernie Sanders.  Joe Biden.  Elizabeth Warren.  Senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Jeff Merkley are all considering presidential bids.

The person the Democrats nominate, whoever it is, will target Ohio as the missing piece to the puzzle they need to claim the Oval Office so they can pick up where Barack Obama left off.  If they seize control of the Ohio secretary of state's office and they control the machinery of government in the Buckeye State, they will set to work pressing their advantage.  That is why Republicans are taking action: because winning the Ohio secretary of state's race is absolutely vital to the integrity of our elections and the future of our country.

Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state, served on President Trump's Commission on Election Integrity.  He is a member of the Policy Board of the American Civil Rights Union.