Voters focused on Issue 1, abortion

August 4, 2023

If some backers of Issue 1 thought putting the constitutional amendment on a special August ballot would lower turnout and make it easier to pass, they were mistaken. Mahoning Valley election officials told me the turnout for Tuesday’s election with the sole issue on it is going to be comparable or better than the typical odd-year general election or a gubernatorial primary. The issue has drawn significant interest from voters. Several voters have abortion on their minds for this special election. That’s because an abortion rights constitutional amendment will be on the Nov. 7 ...

Issue 1 to have major future impact

July 28, 2023

Issue 1 will have a huge impact on Ohio if it passes. It’s a very unusual election as only one statewide issue is on the Aug. 8 special election ballot. It’s the first time in 97 years since a state ballot measure was decided in August. That was for a special assessment tax that was rejected soundly. Ohioans are not used to rare August elections. Just look at the 8 percent turnout in the August 2022 election, which was an atypical second primary because of unconstitutional state legislative maps. It was the poorest turnout for a statewide election since numbers have been ...

Ups, downs of LaRose’s bid

July 20, 2023

Secretary of State Frank LaRose enters the Ohio Senate race with some advantages over his two Republican opponents but also with challenges. LaRose certainly is better known than the other two Republican candidates: state Sen. Matt Dolan of Chagrin Falls and Cleveland-area businessman Bernie Moreno. LaRose has won two statewide elections for his current office while Dolan finished third in last year’s Republican primary for a different U.S. Senate seat with Moreno withdrawing from that Senate race two days after the filing deadline. But as U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Cincinnati, ...

Aug. 8 turnout hard to gauge

July 13, 2023

Predicting turnout for the Aug. 8 special election with a single state constitutional amendment is challenging, though it certainly will be low. There hasn’t been a statewide constitutional amendment on an August ballot in Ohio in 97 years. Also, turnout was 7.9 percent last year for a special statewide primary in August for state legislative and state central committee seats. That occurred after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled General Assembly maps approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission were unconstitutional. Last year was a partisan primary in August. This election is ...

Abortion, marijuana issues likely to make statewide ballot this fall

July 7, 2023

As long as enough valid signatures are on petitions, Ohio voters will have two statewide issues — abortion rights and legalization of recreational marijuana — to consider on the Nov. 8 ballot. The signature validity part of the equation is often quite a task. That’s because if people who sign do so in the wrong county, aren’t registered to vote or print their names, among other conditions, those signatures are invalidated or questioned. The timing of reviewing the signatures by county boards of elections for the two issues is challenging because deadline to certify the ...

Federal redistricting case to affect Ohio

June 30, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision regarding a North Carolina congressional redistricting case will have repercussions in Ohio, but we still may end up with the same map the state Supreme Court ruled last year was unconstitutionally gerrymandered. That’s because just like in North Carolina, the judicial philosophy of the new state Supreme Court in Ohio has changed to align with Republican legislators. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Tuesday in Moore v. Harper against North Carolina Republicans who used what is called the “independent state legislative theory.” The theory ...