Election Day \u2013 that\u2019s an antiquated phrase.\u00a0\u00a0In many jurisdictions counties are still counting votes, here a full week after \u201celection day\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Voting began a month before the \u201cday\u201d with early \u201cin person\u201d voting, and what we used to call \u201cabsentee, now mail-in ballots.\u00a0\u00a0They can actually be mailed in, like, through the US Post Office mail.\u00a0\u00a0Or the voter can find a local drop box to drop the ballot in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I first started voting, back in the \u201cdark ages\u201d of the 1970\u2019s, there were only two ways to vote here in Ohio. Either you voted on election day, or you voted \u201cabsentee\u201d, meeting the strict legal requirements to be \u201cabsent\u201d from the actual polling place. I even remember one May primary election when I forgot to get an absentee ballot. I drove home to Cincinnati from college in Granville in order to cast my \u201celection day\u201d in-person vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here in Ohio there\u2019s a certain smugness about the election.\u00a0\u00a0Ohio prides itself on elections called on Election Day (or early in the morning of the next day).\u00a0\u00a0Congressman Jim Jordan, the proud representative of a gerrymandered Ohio district that wiggles across much of the state, has been tweeting over and over again:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s Election Day, not Election Month\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arizona and Nevada are still counting ballots, a week after the election.\u00a0\u00a0They will be mostly done by the end of this week.\u00a0\u00a0California, on the other hand, will still be counting on into the Thanksgiving weekend, and maybe beyond.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are over forty, you might remember that crazy November of 2000, as we watched day after day the counters in Florida desperately trying to sort out a 597 vote difference out of six million cast for Bush and Gore (and Nader).\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s less than 1\/100th<\/sup>\u00a0of a percent difference, well within the \u201cmargin of error\u201d.\u00a0With six million votes to count, no matter what, there\u2019s going to be some unavoidable errors.\u00a0\u00a01\/100th<\/sup>\u00a0of a percent is beyond absolute certainty, regardless of how many times that votes are counted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here in Ohio, we didn\u2019t have those problems.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, we knew that Cincinnati, and even more Cleveland, were going to be the last tallies in, but it was going to happen before the counters went to bed after election day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Ohio needs to get over itself. We get our results quicker, because we have fewer people voting. Last week, only 51% of Ohio registered voters came to the polls. That\u2019s fewer voters than in 2018, and just barely more than in 2010. Ohio\u2019s high turnout was in the 2020 election \u2013 just under six million voted, 74% of those registered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So in last week\u2019s election, almost half of registered voters (and another 500,000 or so not registered at all) didn\u2019t vote. Less than half of Ohio citizens made the decisions about who are leaders are \u2013 like Jim Jordan and JD Vance. Ohio has made voting cumbersome, difficult, and inconvenient. And we\u2019ve done it on purpose \u2013 because the Republican legislature doesn\u2019t want \u201cthe other half\u201d to vote. They know that those non-voters wouldn\u2019t choose them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Voter suppression in Ohio is more insidious than it is in Georgia.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ll let you hand out cookies and water in a long voter line.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, if you vote in an urban area, you can expect that there will be a long wait to cast your ballot. And yes, you can register to vote online.\u00a0\u00a0If you have an Ohio state ID or driver\u2019s license. Otherwise you need to print a PDF form, fill it out, and send it to your local board of elections.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s think that part over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What if you recently moved to Ohio (obeying the 30 day residence requirement) but haven\u2019t changed your ID\u2019s over?\u00a0\u00a0What if you don\u2019t drive and don\u2019t have a State ID?\u00a0\u00a0How about if you don\u2019t have a printer?\u00a0\u00a0What if you\u2019re using a public computer that won\u2019t let you print?\u00a0\u00a0What if you don\u2019t know where your county \u201cseat\u201d is, much less the Board of Elections?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yep, Ohio online registration is easy. Your signature from you driver\u2019s license (or State ID) is transferred to the Board of Elections for a \u201csignature match\u201d. But if you don\u2019t have those, then registering to vote is burdensome and difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here in Ohio, there is an annual \u201ccleansing\u201d of the voting rolls.\u00a0\u00a0Miss four years, and they send out a \u201cform\u201d. Miss the form\u00a0and another two years, and you’re \u201cpurged\u201d from the list.\u00a0\u00a0Infrequent voters find themselves unable to vote, even though they live at the same address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here in Ohio, we used to have a \u201cgolden week\u201d, when voters could register and vote in the upcoming election on the same day.\u00a0\u00a0That week was dropped.\u00a0\u00a0Here in Ohio, every registered voter was sent an application for an absentee ballot (vote by mail).\u00a0\u00a0Now,you must request that application.\u00a0\u00a0And here in Ohio, we used to have drop boxes for absentee\/mail ballots throughout the county.\u00a0\u00a0Now \u2013 there\u2019s one drop box, at the County Seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, \u201cefficient\u201d Ohio is really voter suppressed Ohio.\u00a0\u00a0What would happen if another 500,000 Ohioans voted? Maybe it would take longer to get election results.\u00a0\u00a0And the outcome of those results might be very different.\u00a0\u00a0Meanwhile, we have the \u201csmoothest\u201d election process available.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s easy, as long as people don\u2019t vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fewer Votes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Voter Suppression<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Purge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n