Ohio

With abortion rights on the line, an August special election has Ohio election offices scrambling

Published

1 year ago

June 26, 2023

With abortion rights on the line, an August special election has Ohio election offices scrambling

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A high-stakes August special election with national political implications is upending local election offices across Ohio, as already stressed election workers are suddenly faced with a mountain of logistical challenges after Republican lawmakers backtracked on their own law.

Officials have to lure poll workers away from vacations, relocate polling places booked for summer weddings, maintenance or other events, and repeatedly retest ballot language after the state’s high court found errors.

“It’s disheartening. It’s exhausting,” said Michelle Wilcox, a Democrat who is the director of elections in tiny Auglaize County in northwest Ohio. “When you’re overworked, haven’t had breaks, are stressed, things can happen. These are the things that lead up to catastrophes on Election Day, and to have to do it on such a short timeline is troubling.”

The tight timeframe was imposed by Republican lawmakers, who reversed a new law that had taken effect in January to eliminate August elections. In May, they added the Aug. 8 special election for a measure that seeks to make it harder to amend the state’s constitution. If passed, the amendment would raise the threshold for passing future constitutional changes from a simple majority, as it’s been for more than a century, to 60%.

Republicans’ immediate goal is to make it harder for voters to pass an abortion rights amendment that is in the works for November.

Other brewing constitutional amendments also could be affected, including efforts to legalize recreational marijuana, increase the minimum wage, reform Ohio’s redistricting system and limit vaccine mandates.

All Ohio’s living ex-governors, both Democrats and Republicans, and five bipartisan former attorneys general oppose the constitutional change, along with a sweeping coalition of labor, faith, voting rights, civil rights and community groups. It’s backed by an alliance of powerful anti-abortion, gun rights, farming and business groups.

Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, said the effort is part of a growing movement in Republican-led states to weaken citizens’ access to direct democracy and will have national implications.

“What happens in Ohio, win or lose, will have an impact moving forward and have a reverberating effect across the country, because it’s stuck between two major election years, and it’s a special election,” she said. “Whatever happens, it will set the tone for how we go into 2024 legislative sessions, what tactics, what nuances state legislatures may do to try and undermine the will of the people, and impact the ability of citizens to bring issues to the ballot.”

Despite the significance, August’s Issue 1 could be decided by a fraction of Ohio voters. Turnout predictions diverge wildly.

Republican Joe Kuhn, a member of the Auglaize County Board of Elections, said the question should go before voters in a regular general election when history suggests turnout would be greater.

“This goes well beyond the abortion-reproductive rights issue that’s going to hit in November. This affects every other issue that would touch the Ohio Constitution. The law’s been in place since 1912,” he said.

Military and overseas voting began Friday, and voter registration closes July 10. Early voting begins the next day.

Chronically low turnouts were among the reasons Ohio nixed August elections in the first place. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose testified at the time that they were bad for taxpayers, election officials and the civic health of the state, largely because few people show up.

“That means just a handful of voters end up making big decisions. The side that wins is often the one that has a vested interest in the passage of the issue up for consideration,” he told senators last year. “This isn’t how democracy is supposed to work.”

A group of Republican lawmakers refused to reverse course on the issue, as LaRose since has, preventing passage of a bill that would have reinstated an August election one time and provide $20 million to run it.

Legislative leaders decided the bill wasn’t needed, tucking the special election date into the resolution that sent Issue 1 to the ballot without the money to pay for it. One Person One Vote, the opposition campaign, challenged the move as illegal, but lost.

The money has been included in the state budget bill, but Wilcox, the Auglaize election director, said the absence of available money has created another set of time-consuming tasks for election boards. That includes clearing expenses with county commissioners that would normally be part of their annual budgets and filing tedious reimbursement paperwork.

In addition, she said, contracts with polling places didn’t include the August election date. That means postcards will have to go out telling voters of the relocations, then again in the fall reminding them to return to where they normally vote. She said her roughly 45,000-population county barely dodged a problem at the local fairgrounds, which hosts 10 polling locations serving about 9,000 voters.

In populous Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, “a couple dozen” polling locations had to be switched, said spokesperson Mike West. They include churches now booked with weddings and school buildings being renovated.

Aaron Sellers, spokesperson for the Franklin County Board of Elections in Columbus, said the county will use only 282 voting locations, rather than its usual 307, displacing about 7% of voters.

“We had 25 locations that could not accommodate us, due to resurfacing floors, church camps, Bible studies, those types of things,” he said.

To attract people who might be planning August vacations, Franklin County voted this month to increase pay for its poll workers. Sellers said the $134 stipend for working Election Day is set by the state, but the county election board was able to bump poll workers’ allowances for training time and set-up duties.

Hamilton County Elections Director Sherry Poland said her office in Cincinnati only had three polling locations with conflicts, leaving poll worker recruitment as its biggest challenge. Commissioners voted last year to give county workers the day off if they serve, without needing to use vacation time, as well as an extra day off, she said, so they are focusing on that group first.

Changing ballot language has been another challenge for local election boards. Initial wording approved by the state ballot board was found to be erroneous by the Ohio Supreme Court, which ordered it rewritten. Wilcox said that’s meant testing voting systems multiple times to accommodate the wording changes.

Initial, intermediate and final wording all required testing, she said, a time-consuming exercise for small counties — and a huge one for a county like Cuyahoga, which has 4,000 different ballot types.

Wilcox said her county’s three-person office has been struggling. At one point, the office was juggling duties related to four separate elections: an audit of spring results, the August election, petitions rolling in for the November ballot issue, and the first 2024 candidates beginning to declare their candidacies.

Added to that, groups advancing the abortion rights measure for the November ballot are aiming to collect 700,000 signatures. They’re due to local elections offices by July 5.

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Ohio

Mother, daughter killed in Ohio house fire

Published

8 hours ago

October 5, 2024

Press Room

Mother, daughter killed in Ohio house fire

Two people are dead after a house fire in northern Ohio on Saturday morning.

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The fire was reported in Wakeman, which is in Huron County, around 8:15 a.m.

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Wakeman Assistant Fire Chief Eschen confirmed to WOIO in Cleveland that a mother and daughter were killed in the fire.

No other injuries were reported.

The Wakeman Fire District took to social media to thank the other fire departments who helped put the fire out.

The fire remains under investigation.

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Ohio

Last Call: Questions, Players to Watch and Predictions for Ohio State vs. Iowa

Published

16 hours ago

October 5, 2024

Press Room

Last Call: Questions, Players to Watch and Predictions for Ohio State vs. Iowa

The second month of Ohio State’s 2024 football season begins today at Ohio Stadium.

3 – 1 (1-0)

Oct. 5, 2024 – 3:30 pm et

Ohio STADIUM

Columbus, OH

Ohio State hosts Iowa in what’s expected to be the toughest test of the season to date for the Buckeyes. While Ohio State largely cruised through September, winning all of their first three games by at least 31 points, the Hawkeyes bring one of the nation’s best rushing offenses and a strong defense – particularly against the run – to the Shoe for the Buckeyes’ fifth game of the year.

With an increased challenge on tap today, we delve into our biggest questions for Ohio State entering today’s game and pick our top players to watch before making some predictions for how the game will play out.

Questions

Can Ohio State win the ground game?

The answer to this question could make all the difference between a comfortable Buckeye win or a tight four-quarter battle.

Ohio State’s passing game is far more explosive than Iowa’s, giving the Buckeyes a clear advantage on paper. But few teams in college football are better at controlling the game on the ground than Iowa.

Iowa’s rushing offense and run defense are both by far the best Ohio State has faced so far this season, and the Hawkeyes could threaten an upset if they can put together long drives with their run game and bottle up the Buckeyes’ rushing attack. On the other hand, Ohio State could make the game a blowout if it can continue running the ball as well as it has so far this season and force Iowa to make plays through the air against an Ohio State secondary that’s much better than Iowa’s receiving corps.

– Dan Hope

Will Ohio State win the turnover battle and field position game?

On The Ryan Day Radio Show, Ohio State’s head coach called Iowa “the epitome of winning the turnover battle and field position game.” He then explained that the Hawkeyes excel at taking care of the football while also forcing their opponents to make mistakes. They are also satisfied with an offensive drive that stalls at the 50-yard line if it means they can pin a punt inside the 5-yard line. All of that said, the Buckeyes will need to be to protect the ball and have a Rolodex of plays ready if their backs are against the wall on Saturday.

– Chase Brown

Do the linebackers take a step forward?

With the threat Iowa poses on the ground, gap-sound and decisive linebacker play will be important for the Buckeyes to separate from the Hawkeyes on Saturday. The unit’s faced some criticism for their play against Marshall and Michigan State, particularly Sonny Styles, though he does lead the team with 23 tackles. Arvell Reese should also see plenty of time in 4-3 packages against some of the Hawkeyes’ heavier fronts.

– Andy Anders

Is there a little bit of a lull before Ohio State’s biggest game of the year?

Ryan Day has gone out of his way to avoid complacency and praise Iowa all week, but considering most of the players are between 18-22 years old, you have to wonder if there might be just a little bit of a lull in the start of Ohio State’s matchup against the Hawkeyes considering the Buckeyes face what could be their stiffest test of the year against Oregon next week. I’m not expecting that this team will let that happen, but it’s certainly happened before to other teams a week before big matchups.

– Garrick Hodge

Players to Watch

Tyleik Williams

Ohio State’s defensive line hasn’t looked as dominant in the last two games without Williams as it was in the first two games without Williams. Having Williams return at full strength today would go a long way toward slowing down that’s rushed for more than 200 yards in all four of its games so far this season.

– Dan Hope

Will Howard

I picked him last week; I’ll pick him again this week. Iowa’s defense is one of the best in college football. According to Bill Connelly of ESPN and his SP+ model, the Hawkeyes have the best defense in college football. With solid performances in Ohio State’s wins over Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall and Michigan State, I’m looking to see how Howard looks against Phil Parker’s well-renowned unit. How many times will he throw it? How many times will he run it? Can he take care of the football and make the routine plays routinely?

– Chase Brown

Jeremiah Smith

Pass defense is easily the weaker portion of Iowa’s defense as the Hawkeyes rank 69th nationally in pass yards allowed per game. Smith has been Ohio State’s brightest star at wide receiver through four games; expect the freshman sensation to post another big outing as his legend grows.

– Andy Anders

Cody Simon

Similar to Dan’s reasoning with picking Tyleik, Simon will be instrumental in helping to slow down Iowa’s vaunted rushing attack, primarily standout running back Kaleb Johnson. The linebackers will need to have a big day on Saturday, and that starts with Simon.

– Garrick Hodge

Predictions

Will Howard has his first 300-yard game as a Buckeye

Will Howard has one career 300-yard passing game and came up eight yards short of the mark in his second game with Ohio State against Western Michigan in Week 2. He’s yet to play four full quarters, which he could be in store for if Iowa manages to keep this one a little closer, and the secondary is once again the matchup for the Buckeyes’ offense to expose. Seems ripe for a big day throwing the ball.

– Andy Anders

Denzel Burke gets a pick-six

There might not be any player on Ohio State’s roster who’s hungrier for revenge against Michigan than Burke. The senior cornerback could get a small slice of revenge on Saturday by picking off Cade McNamara, who quarterbacked Michigan to a win over Ohio State during Burke’s freshman season in 2021. Burke leads the Buckeyes with two interceptions this season; I think he gets his third against the Hawkeyes, and I’ll take it a step further by saying he predicting he returns said interception for his second career pick-six.

– Dan Hope

Caleb Downs records an interception or a forced fumble

I won’t be as bold as Dan and predict a pick-six, but I think the standout safety will force his first turnover of the season against Iowa via either an interception or a forced fumble. In doing so, Downs will continue his “activation” at the backend of Ohio State’s defense, as Jim Knowles called it this week.

– Chase Brown

Cade McNamara is held to less than 100 passing yards again

Maybe this isn’t as bold as you may think considering McNamara has done this feat in two of his three games against FBS opponents this season, but it could be a testament to how stout OSU’s secondary may be considering I expect OSU to get ahead early and force Iowa to lean on the pass a little more than it would like. The Buckeyes’ cornerbacks see better skill position players in practice daily than any of Iowa’s receivers, and that should be reflected in OSU’s pass defense statistics this week.

– Garrick Hodge

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Ohio

Tavien St. Clair, Ohio State 5-star QB recruit, has six-TD performance for Bellefontaine

Published

24 hours ago

October 5, 2024

Press Room

Tavien St. Clair, Ohio State 5-star QB recruit, has six-TD performance for Bellefontaine

BELEFONTAINE, Ohio — Tavien St. Clair, Ohio State football’s five-star quarterback recruit, threw five touchdowns and ran in one of his own in a near-perfect display Friday night. St. Clair led Bellefontaine High School to a 56-8 victory over conference rivals Tecumseh.

Patience, control, and domination flowed from St. Clair on Friday as he completed 18 of 22 passes for 260 yards in one half of play in Week 7 of Ohio high school football.

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