Election 2024
Voter registration, other general election deadlines coming soon
Summer is over, and the Nov. 7 general election is coming soon. Even sooner are the deadlines for voters to register and absentee ballots to be sent out. Though the election does not include the governor or the president, Ohioans will take their side of two polarizing issues this time around: a marijuana legalization law […]
Ohio Redistricting Commission co-chair defends Dem teamwork, despite process issues, criticism
Redistricting concluded on Tuesday with the adoption of new Statehouse maps that had unanimous approval from all members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The vote represents the first bipartisan agreement on maps, though the bipartisan agreement was lopsided, with only two Democrats on the current seven-member commission. The maps give the GOP 61 of 99 […]
Trump to UAW: Endorse me or you won’t have a union
Former President Donald Trump told United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders Wednesday that they would not have a union if they fail to endorse him in the 2024 presidential election. “They have to endorse Trump, because if they don’t, all they’re doing is committing suicide,” Trump said. UAW President Shawn Fain criticized Trump’s Wednesday night visit […]
GOP presidential hopefuls tear into each other and absent Trump at second debate
The candidates polling from second to eighth in the race for the Republican nomination for president largely agreed on policy, fought over their records and took aim at former President Donald Trump at their second debate of the year Wednesday night. Trump, who leads polls of the race by substantial margins, skipped the event at […]
Ohio politicians used redistricting for gerrymandered horse-trading. Kick them out of the process
It should be abundantly clear to all fair-minded Ohioans at this point that politicians have no business being involved in the redistricting process after lawmakers used the latest round of Ohio House and Senate district mapmaking to strike a bipartisan deal that amounts to little more than gerrymandered horse-trading. Fittingly under the cover of darkness […]
Ohio Redistricting Commission adopts sixth version of Statehouse maps with bipartisan support
The Ohio Redistricting Commission reached bipartisan agreement as it passed new Statehouse maps late Tuesday night after a few more hours of public comment, and then negotiation behind closed doors. The maps show a Republican-to-Democratic advantage of 61 to 38 in the Ohio House, with eight Democratic toss-up seats and three GOP toss-ups. In the […]
After two rejections, is Ohio attorney general slow-walking anti-gerrymandering amendment?
One might think that a movement associated with a former state Supreme Court chief justice could draft a petition summary that passes legal muster. But twice already, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has rejected summaries of a petition to put an anti-gerrymandering amendment on Ohio’s November 2024 ballot. So far, nobody’s explicitly accusing Yost of […]
Ohio Redistricting Commission spends Jewish high holy day in doubleheader public meetings
In a region representing a major majority of Jewish communities in the state, the Ohio Redistricting Commission spent the holiest day of the religion’s calendar talking Statehouse maps. The ORC met at Punderson Manor Lodge & Conference Center in Newbury on Monday for a morning and evening public hearing. Democrats said they requested an additional […]
Deportation proceedings at a record clip, but far outstrip court capacity
The number of deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants set a record for August, but the increases only highlighted the fact that backlogged immigration courts are unable to handle them, according to an analysis released last week. Despite dystopian claims about the southwestern border made by some politicians, many undocumented immigrants are not in the United […]
Ohio Supreme Court approves abortion rights amendment Ballot Board summary for voters with one tweak
The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered one tweak to summary language approved by Republicans on the Ohio Ballot Board for voters to see in November on a proposed reproductive rights amendment. The split state supreme court rejected using the full text of the proposed amendment and declared that that summary language that voters will see […]
Analysis: Paying to warm the planet. Corrupt utility law forces Ohioans to make climate worse
It seems crazy that people would be forced to pay to make themselves and their planet sicker. But thanks to a crooked utility law that the Ohio General Assembly refuses to repeal, that’s just what’s happening in the Buckeye State. The notion that rising greenhouse gasses could warm the planet goes back at least to […]
Ohio Sec. of State LaRose’s office move amid U.S. Senate candidacy raises ethical questions
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has decided it’s a good idea to both oversee Ohio’s U.S. Senate election as the state’s chief elections officer and house part of his campaign for the seat in the same building. But the arrangement, which LaRose has done little to explain, raises serious questions about potential conflicts of […]