Ohio
Far fewer Ohio women could vote if top election officer gets way | Opinion
The SAVE acronym should stand for Suppress American Votes Everywhere.
Trump pushes voter ID bill that could burden married women
President Donald Trump is advocating for the passage of the SAVE America Act, a voter ID bill critics say could make voting harder for married women and other eligible voters.
Richard Topper has been a trial attorney in Columbus for 45 years and is actively involved in voting rights efforts.
As chief election officer of our state, Frank LaRose should be focused equally, if not more, on how election laws affect Ohio citizens’ rights to vote as he does to the miniscule numbers of undocumented citizens who attempted to vote in our elections.
To support our right to vote, LaRose, a Republican candidate for Ohio auditor of state, should speak out against the SAVE Act pending before the U.S. Senate.
The SAVE acronym should stand for Suppress American Votes Everywhere.
The bill would require all U.S. citizens to present a birth certificate or passport in person when they register to vote. The act could prevent thousands of Ohio citizens from participating in a single election.
The number far outweighs the 167 noncitizens whom, according to LaRose, “have appeared to cast a ballot in (over 15 elections) since 2018.”
How will the Save Act affect you?
Let’s say you’ve lived and worked in Ohio all your life but decide to move.
To vote, you’d have to re-register in person at your county board of elections and show them your birth certificate or passport. If you have neither, you will be unable to vote.
For Ohioans who’ve changed their name due to marriage or remarriage, it becomes even more difficult to prove your citizenship with a birth certificate.
This will affect Ohio women’s right to vote, since 70% change their name when they marry.
Every person who wants to vote in Ohio for the first time, who moves to Ohio, or who moves within the state will need to have a birth certificate or passport to vote.
In 2023, close to 1.2 million Ohioans moved within or to Ohio. Under the SAVE Act, every one of those Ohioans is considered a non-citizen until they prove otherwise.
Not everyone has or can get access to a birth certificate.
An argument that sinks
A study by the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement showed over 9% of voting-age citizens, or 21.3 million people in the U.S., cannot timely obtain a birth certificate or passport. In fact, only 37% of Ohioans own a U.S. passport.
The argument that too many non-citizens vote holds no water.
In 2024, Secretary LaRose required poll workers to challenge voters whose driver license read “non-citizen.”
Of the 5,851,387 people who cast ballots in 2024, only five alleged non-citizens attempted, but were not able to vote that day. One in a million. Nationwide, the figures are similar.
Kansas legislators tried their own SAVE Act. The 67 non-citizens who registered to vote paled in comparison to the 31,000 Kansans who were denied their right to vote.
Ohioans need Frank LaRose to take a stand
LaRose should focus his attention on what the SAVE Act requires and how this will affect the average Ohioan.
In the past five years in his chief election officer position, LaRose decried costly and non-participatory August elections, then supported an August 2023 election that would have taken Ohioans’ longstanding right to amend our constitution by a majority.
He also voted in favor of unconstitutional gerrymandered Ohio legislative and Congressional districts which diminished the votes of 45% of Ohioans.
Recently, LaRose bowed to the Trump administration and supported an Ohio law which would nullify up to 7,000 legitimate Ohio mail-in ballots received during the four-day grace period after election day.
LaRose can redeem himself by supporting Ohio voters and taking a bold step to speak out against the voter suppressive SAVE Act.
Richard Topper has been a trial attorney in Columbus for 45 years and is actively involved in voting rights efforts.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A cold front will track through the area tomorrow followed by a low pressure system Wednesday.
Today will be pleasant with a partly cloudy sky. High level clouds will be increasing throughout the day. Afternoon temperatures 73 to 77 degrees.
The wind really ramps up tonight. Southeast to south winds could gust over 55 mph at times later this evening and overnight. Thunderstorms will track in after midnight. Early morning temperatures 55 to 60 degrees.
Windy the first half of the day tomorrow. South winds will gust over 35 mph at times. A few showers around. High temperatures around 70 degrees.
Rain and fog Wednesday. It’ll be much cooler. The highest chance of rain is the first half of the day. A few towns could get over 1″ of rainfall. Afternoon temperatures in the lower to middle 50s.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
MADISONVILLE, Ky. (WFIE) – Contractors working for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have three base repair projects planned in Ohio County in the coming week, which could result in temporary lane closures on Monday and Tuesday.
Drivers should anticipate lane closures with alternating traffic flow controlled by flaggers between 6:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Crews will be making base failure repairs along a three-mile stretch of KY 369, from the Butler County line to Union Hill Road on Monday.
Base repair work is also planned on Monday along KY 878 from KY 1165 to the Breckenridge County line.
Crews will be making base repairs to KY 2671 (Sunnydale Road) on Tuesday between Sugar Grove Road to KY 54.
Copyright 2026 WFIE. All rights reserved.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An Ohio Supreme Court ruling could lead to some relief for Ohioans’ electric bill.
The court ruled that submetering companies must be regulated like all traditional utilities. Advocates say the move is a victory for customers who may have been stuck with high bills and few protections.
Columbus renter Mitchell Bienvenue shared his experience on social media after receiving electric bills well over $300 for his two-bedroom apartment and couldn’t get a clear explanation as to why.
“My parents live in a four-bedroom house down the street, and their bill was less than half of ours, and I thought that was wild,” Bienvenue said. “It got me questioning it. It got me looking into it.”
Bienvenue’s research led him to find out that his new apartment complex’s utilities are through a submetering company, American Power & Light.
Submetering is the practice in which a third party buys electricity and gas from a public utility and resells it to consumers, often leading to unexplained higher costs and excessive fees. It’s a common practice at many apartments and condos.
“I wasn’t told any of this before signing the lease,” Bienvenue said. “I don’t think it’s right that a submetering company can just charge whatever to apartment renters when they have no control and no say in what happens.”
The long-standing practice has gone unregulated, but the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision changes that. The ruling says the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has the authority to regulate submetering companies.
In this case, the court found that Nationwide Energy Partners (NEP) is subject to PUCO’s jurisdiction because “jurisdictional statute defines a public utility to include an entity ‘engaged in the business of supplying electricity … to consumers within this state,’” Justice Patrick DeWine wrote in the opinion. “The record in this case shows that NEP does exactly that.”
“The law is the law,” Maureen Willis, with the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, said. “If they’re providing essential utility service, they have to abide by that law and follow the rules.”
The Ohio Consumers’ Council applauded the decision. Willis says it gives critical protections to consumers, but there’s still work that needs to be done.
“We’d like to see immediate compliance, and we’d like to see real oversight by the Public Utilities Commission,” Willis said. “That may take some time, but it is something that has been long overdue.”
State leaders plan to work with the PUCO to ensure the ruling is implemented and that submeter consumers get full protection as soon as possible.
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