Blystone calls for forensic election audit, end to vaccine mandates in Lima town hall

LIMA — Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone criticized Gov. Mike DeWine’s handling of the pandemic and called for a forensic audit of the 2020 presidential election during a town hall campaign stop in Lima on Thursday.

The self-described constitutional conservative, who is challenging DeWine for the GOP nomination in May, told dozens of supporters Thursday that “we need to take over every elected position, from dog catcher to president of the U.S.” and that “we need to go to Columbus and break the whole system in half.”

“What’s next is not going to be pretty if we can’t solve this at the ballot box,” Blystone added.

The Ohio GOP last week endorsed DeWine’s re-election campaign. But the Republican schism over DeWine’s handling of the pandemic has boosted Blystone’s campaign.

The East Liverpool native and cattle farmer entered the gubernatorial race in response to pandemic restrictions.

“The last two years, quite frankly it’s not the America I grew up in,” Blystone said. “It’s not the America I want to live in.”

Blystone on Thursday aligned himself with those who object to mandatory masking and vaccination, criticizing state lawmakers for failing to advance House Bill 248, which would have blocked schools and businesses from requiring vaccines, and styling himself as Ohio’s version of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

“I’m not against vaccines,” Blystone said. “I got my vaccines as a child. But I am against this vaccine.”

Blystone called for a forensic audit of the 2020 presidential election, a return to using paper ballots, annual voter roll purges and for an end to mail-in ballots, declaring that “President Trump is still my president.”

And he decried the state of public schooling in Ohio, describing public schools as “indoctrination camps” where children are taught to be racist and are exposed to pornographic material under the guise of sex ed and gender identity.

But he praised legislation under consideration in Ohio that would establish a universal school voucher program and force public schools to compete with private schools.

“If they keep indoctrinating children,” Blystone said, “and they lose all their clientele, their business will die, as it should.”

Ohio governor candidate Joe Blystone held a town hall meeting at the UNOH Event Center in Lima on Thursday night.

Governor candidate also wants to end vaccine mandates