McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 U.S. 334, 17 (1995)

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350

McINTYRE v. OHIO ELECTIONS COMM'N

Opinion of the Court

Ohio's prohibition of anonymous leaflets plainly is not its principal weapon against fraud.13 Rather, it serves as an aid to enforcement of the specific prohibitions and as a deterrent

"(6) Make a false statement that a candidate or official has a record of treatment or confinement for mental disorder;

"(7) Make a false statement that a candidate or official has been subjected to military discipline for criminal misconduct or dishonorably discharged from the armed services;

"(8) Falsely identify the source of a statement, issue statements under the name of another person without authorization, or falsely state the endorsement of or opposition to a candidate by a person or publication;

"(9) Make a false statement concerning the voting record of a candidate or public official;

"(10) Post, publish, circulate, distribute, or otherwise disseminate a false statement, either knowing the same to be false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not, concerning a candidate that is designed to promote the election, nomination, or defeat of the candidate. As used in this section, 'voting record' means the recorded 'yes' or 'no' vote on a bill, ordinance, resolution, motion, amendment, or confirmation."

Section 3599.09.2(B) provides: "No person, during the course of any campaign in advocacy of or in opposition to the adoption of any ballot proposition or issue, by means of campaign material, including sample ballots, an advertisement on radio or television or in a newspaper or periodical, a public speech, a press release, or otherwise, shall knowingly and with intent to affect the outcome of such campaign do any of the following:

"(1) Falsely identify the source of a statement, issue statements under the name of another person without authorization, or falsely state the endorsement of or opposition to a ballot proposition or issue by a person or publication;

"(2) Post, publish, circulate, distribute, or otherwise disseminate, a false statement, either knowing the same to be false or acting with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not, that is designed to promote the adoption or defeat of any ballot proposition or issue." § 3599.09.2(B).

We need not, of course, evaluate the constitutionality of these provisions. We quote them merely to emphasize that Ohio has addressed directly the problem of election fraud. To the extent the anonymity ban indirectly seeks to vindicate the same goals, it is merely a supplement to the above provisions.

13 The same can be said with regard to "libel," as many of the above-quoted Election Code provisions prohibit false statements about candidates. To the extent those provisions may be underinclusive, Ohio courts also

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