Ohio capital budget in jeopardy

May 22, 2020

The state’s capital budget, which provides money for numerous projects, is in jeopardy of not being approved this year. The $2.6 billion biennial capital budget was expected to be introduced in March, with about $150 million in it for community projects, and passed well before now. But the COVID-19 pandemic occurred bringing the spending package discussions to a halt and putting its future in danger. “There’s a small possibility of it occurring later this year,” said state Rep. Michael J. O’Brien, D-Warren, a member of the House Finance Committee. “If one happens, I’m ...

Plan now for November election

May 8, 2020

We hope life gets back to normal by the November general election, but plans need to be in place now in case it doesn’t. Regardless of what happens, the reality is a lot of people will be hesitant to stand in line to vote. That means there’s going to be a greater dependence on mail votes for the election headlined by the presidential race. As we saw during the primary, long-term planning is desperately needed. The state was fortunate that there wasn’t much on the primary ballot, which caused a low turnout and didn’t put a great strain on county boards of elections though ...

No upsets, but interesting results

May 1, 2020

While there weren’t any upsets in Tuesday’s primary election, there were some interesting results. I must mention that during the COVID-19 pandemic, we shouldn’t take these results as indicators of what will happen in the general election. Turnout was extraordinarily low as expected because of the virus and few hotly contested races and issues on the ballot. The lack of presidential competition also kept many voters away. Turnout as of Tuesday was 27.45 percent in Trumbull County. That will increase once all mail-in ballots are counted — but not by much. The lowest ...

Low expectations for primary

April 24, 2020

What happens when you have an election using a voting method many people have never used before in the midst of a pandemic? We’re going to find out Tuesday, though complete results for the primary won’t be certified for about another month. It certainly looks like voters will stay away during this primary because COVID-19 has them worried about other things. Also, without contested presidential races for either the Democrats or the Republicans, the process for getting a ballot doesn’t seem worth it to many people. Those who normally go to polling locations to cast ballots ...

Don’t wait to request a ballot

April 17, 2020

If you want to vote in this primary and haven’t yet requested a ballot, you’d better get moving. While the primary has been postponed to April 28, voters must get their ballots postmarked by April 27 and have them arrive at county boards of elections by May 8 to be counted. After Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, canceled the March 17 in-person primary — at the request of Gov. Mike DeWine — out of public health concerns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, voters started requesting ballots from boards of elections. DeWine and Secretary of State Frank ...

Pandemic creates primary dilemma

April 10, 2020

Candidates on the primary ballot are facing an unprecedented dilemma. Those in competitive primaries — particularly in races in which there’s no general election opponent— likely spent an overwhelming majority of their money in the days leading up to March 17. That was the original date for the in-person primary that would have seen a large majority of voters cast ballots. The state canceled the March 17 primary late the night before when Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, issued an emergency health order about eight hours before the polls were to open at ...