COLUMBUS (WCMH) — At a ceremony in Akron, Frank LaRose was sworn in as Ohio’s next Secretary of State.

He’ll be tasked with overseeing elections in Ohio, including what is likely to be a divisive and politically charged general election in 2020. LaRose said one of his goals will be to silence the irresponsible claims of voter suppression made by Democrats and irresponsible claims of voter fraud made by Republicans, both of which gained traction during the 2016 election. LaRose sat down with NBC4’s Colleen Marshall to discuss how he will accomplish that and his transition into a state office.

“As a first-time statewide office holder, there’s a lot of learning to do,” LaRose said. He said he’s working on building a team of professionals so they can hit the ground running. His office will have a lot of ground to cover, too.

“It’s important that Ohioans have confidence that their elections are being run fairly and accurately,” LaRose said. However, voters and politicians from both parties have thrown accusations about voter fraud and voter suppression around.

 “I think it’s unfortunate that you hear that kind of heated rhetoric on both the right and the left,” he said. “Let’s turn down the heat a little bit on the rhetoric.”

A hot topic across the state in recent years has been the voter roll purges and how to maintain an accurate voter roll. Democrats allege that voters have been unnecessarily burdened by the purges, while Republicans claim there are people on the rolls who shouldn’t be. Now, it’s up to LaRose to find a balance.

“There’s room for modernization,” he said. “We can do a lot better and by working in a bipartisan way, we can do it.”

He said that Ohioans shouldn’t be inconvenienced and they should feel confident that when they cast their ballots, their will is reflected in the outcome. LaRose said he plans to go to the legislature and develop a plan to ensure that happens.

“Compromise is not a dirty word,” he said.