Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose still has time to permit more drop boxes
Akron Beacon Journal
Sept. 27
Frank LaRose often shows the right instinct as Ohio secretary of state, reflecting the nonpartisan path he pledged to follow in the job. That was evident during his virtual event at the Akron Roundtable on Thursday. The Hudson Republican supports voters having the option of applying online for absentee ballots. He backs the state covering the postage costs for casting votes by mail.
Unfortunately, LaRose has met opposition from his own party. The Republican majorities at the Statehouse even flirted with ending early in-person voting on the final weekend before the election. These and other positions fan a reputation for deploying obstacles to voting.
Yet, in one instance, LaRose has triggered his own problems. It has been disappointing to see him resist allowing counties to expand the use of drop boxes for the November election. This is an easy call, the secretary with the authority to make voting more convenient and facilitate participation during an extraordinary pandemic.
Actually, the secretary says he likes the concept of adding drop boxes. He has questioned whether he can move forward without legislative action. He asked the state attorney general for an opinion but withdrew his request. Then, he issued a directive limiting each county to one drop box, located at the local board of elections, the practice during the bumpy primary election last spring.
In doing so, the secretary worries about litigation. Yet lawsuits are all but certain in elections today, both Democrats and Republicans heavily armed for court. In this case, the stakes make a legal fight worthwhile. Drop boxes will contribute significantly to voters having their voices heard.
Worth adding is that the boxes reflect the nonpartisan wishes of the secretary. The evidence reveals neither party has an advantage in their use.
That is just one telling point made by Judge Richard Frye of Franklin County in his recent ruling finding LaRose does have the authority to permit boards of elections to add drop boxes. The judge highlighted the unusual context. The presence of the novel coronavirus makes voters wary of casting ballots at the polls. The organizational turmoil at the Postal Service has delayed mail delivery and invited doubts about mailed ballots arriving in time to be counted.
Thus, drop boxes represent a layer of protection, especially when nearly half of Ohio voters may cast absentee ballots.
Judge Frye explained that state law neither allows nor prohibits the secretary of state from expanding the use of drop boxes. That muddiness does not prevent clarity. The judge reminded that each elections board has the authority to provide ballot boxes and other equipment. More, boards can issue rules and instructions consistent with the actions of the secretary of state and state law.
As the judge pointed out, state law says a voter with an absentee ballot may “personally deliver” the ballot to the board of elections. That clearly leaves room for drop boxes. The law doesn’t bar boards of election from placing boxes at multiple secure locations.
The judge cited how several counties explored more drop boxes, adjusting to current circumstances and serving the larger mission of full and fair access to voting. Part of that effort goes to differences among counties, the need for drop boxes driven by larger urban populations or greater rural square mileage.
Election litigation has become a staple of campaigns. Both Democrats and Republicans look, in part, to energize supporters. Yet this is another episode in which something crucial is at stake. Ideally, that would translate to both parties embracing expanded drop boxes. Instead, the question landed with Frank LaRose, who would have done well to follow his first instinct and allow local elections officials to act.
He still can. The judge has pointed the way.
Online: https://bit.ly/36Am4eH
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Black tech workers are available with connections
The Columbus Dispatch
Oct. 3
Systemic racism is more than the urgent issues of police profiling and brutality that are roiling American communities. Those might be the problems that need to be addressed most immediately, but “systemic” racism, as the term implies, goes deeper.
Systemic racism also is Bucknell University botanist Tanisha Williams feeling compelled to lug a bunch of field guides with her when she’s doing research in public parks. She doesn’t need the guides, but they help persuade skeptical busybodies, who can’t quite imagine what a Black woman is doing poking around the plants, to leave her alone.
Williams was one of several Black scientists who spoke to the Associated Press for a story about subtle harassment and intimidation they face from people who don’t think they belong. “I’ve been quizzed by random strangers,” Williams said. “Now I bring my wildflower books and field guides, trying to look like a scientist.”
Systemic racism also lies behind the income disparity and educational inequality that make it harder for Black people to get four-year and advanced college degrees and limit avenues for advancement even when they achieve that goal.
In Columbus, that’s where Doug McCollough hopes to come in with Black Tech Columbus. As a Black man who is chief information officer for the city of Dublin with a 17-year career in systems management, McCollough has seen plenty of organizations that say they want a more diverse tech team but fail to reach the tech pros of color who are looking for those jobs.
McCollough and others who founded the group in 2018 are providing ingredients that had been missing: a source of mentorship and fellowship for young Black tech professionals who often find themselves the only Black person in the room - or in an entire company - with all the isolation and potential cultural misunderstanding that implies.
He is quick to stipulate that, while the group’s efforts are helping young Black professionals make connections, they haven’t seen a notable increase in hiring yet. Companies “are failing with the best of intentions,” McCollough said - interested in hiring more diverse employees but not changing how they recruit or how they support minority hires once they’re onboard.
We salute Black Tech Columbus for this important work and urge companies to take advantage of it. A more diverse workforce, especially in jobs with good pay and benefits, will leave all of central Ohio better off.
If ever there was a private school deserving of public dollars through Ohio’s school voucher program, it’s Fugees Academy, a Northeast Side school for international refugee children in grades six through 12. How encouraging that, despite President Donald Trump’s merciless push to close the U.S. to all refugees, those who are here have an educational option uniquely capable of helping them feel safe while learning to be Americans, without losing touch with their roots.
Columbus City Schools and other public districts have special programs and schools for international students and those are commendable, but Fugees Academy - the name is a play on the ’90s hip-hop group as well as the word refugee - is precisely designed for the unique needs of kids who have survived trauma and might have gone without formal schooling for years.
We salute founder Luma Mufleh and thank her for bringing her vision to Columbus.
Online: https://bit.ly/3nsTLoz
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Repeal of HB6 needed to return trust
The Warren Tribune Chronicle
Oct. 5
Ohio legislators are right to be furious about the way they were manipulated into taking $150 million per year out of their constituents’ pockets to benefit two nuclear power plants.
In July, federal authorities arrested former state House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder and four associates. They are accused of being involved in a $60 million bribery scheme allegedly utilized to ensure passage of a bill to bail out the nuclear plants, near Cleveland and Toledo.
Under House Bill 6, which is current law, Ohio consumers will have surcharges totaling $150 million a year added to their electric bills, beginning Jan. 1. The money, being collected through 2026, will go to keep the nuclear plants afloat.
Lawmakers acted quickly - rightly so - to oust Householder from his leadership position. Then came calls to rescind the HB 6 law. So far, that has not happened, and time is running out.
Critics of the House’s Republican leadership accuse them of dragging their feet, with Ohio families paying the price for delay in repealing the law.
But - and we mean this as no defense of the despicable characters involved in the alleged bribery scheme - the situation is complicated. Some believe merely repealing HB 6 in total would not be a good thing.
That’s because the HB6 measure included a variety of other provisions, including promotion of renewable energy.
And, there is the question of whether keeping the plants in operation is beneficial to Ohioans - regardless of how HB 6 came to be enacted.
State Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, told us recently that ultimately he believes HB 6 should be repealed. However, he does not not support pulling it back without first studying all the intricacies that came with it.
Conversely, state Rep. Michael O’Brien, D-Warren, and state Sen. Sean O’Brien, D-Bazetta, believe so strongly that the language needs to be repealed immediately that each is sponsoring his own bill to repeal HB 6.
Sean O’Brien last week told us, “We have got to do a straight repeal. … That bill was so tainted, how do you restore public trust when you see that happen?”
After the repeal, he argues, then supporters of the bailout can go back to the drawing board in an attempt to conjure up new legislation with new debate over whether it should pass.
We agree with that assessment.
Ohioans should not be required to bear the financial burden of bailing out FirstEnergy Solutions’ aging and expensive nuclear power plants. We especially should not now that new information has come to light about the questionable inner workings of our state government that led up to the bill’s passage.
Ohioans have no reason to have faith that this legislation can be “fixed,” particularly when it stems from such improper influences.
State lawmakers must move immediately to repeal House Bill 6 in its entirety. And then they can start over from scratch.
Online: https://bit.ly/2HZZAcJ
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No more reckless rallies
Sandusky Register
Sept. 5
We’re glad President Trump is able to get the best treatment for COVID-19 disease available in the world, and we’re glad he has a team of doctors working round-the-clock attending to his care. We grateful for the knowledge doctors and nurses, hospitals and universities have been able to draw together and make it so that care is available. We believe everyone should have the same kind of health care.
We’re grateful also that U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan has, thus far, tested negative for infection. Jordan in recent days was in close contact with Trump, and others, who have become part of the statistics the nation has been watching all year. Jordan was scheduled to be at the Register today for a 4th U.S. Congressional debate, facing off against his opponents, Shannon Freshour, the Democratic Party nominee, and Steve Perkins, an Libertarian on the General Election ballot.
Jordan was forced to call off his participation in the debate and it will be rescheduled. Had discovery of the outbreak at the White House been delayed by just a day, or so, Jordan could have become a super spreader right here at home. We expect he’ll be quarantined, or it will be determined he’s not at risk, but the president has recklessly, and needlessly, put others at risk for the entire campaign, refusing to follow the mask mandates, the social distancing and crowd size limitations. He’s been holding rallies like there weren’t any pandemic.
But there is a pandemic.
We wish the president and first lady a speedy recovery. The same goes for U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, Trump aides Kellyanne Conway, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, White House aide Nick Luna, Senior presidential adviser Hope Hicks, Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins, and others believed to have become infected at a super-spreader event Trump had in the Rose Garden at thbe White House on Sept. 26.
We hope Trump is well enough soon enough to return to the campaign trail and attend the debates. But, when he does, the public - including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine - must insist that he not resume campaign rallies in which nobody is required to follow the safety protocols. It’s reckless and dangerous.
It shouldn’t have been happening, in the first place, and in light of the super-spreader history, Trump must not be allowed to start it up again.
Online: https://bit.ly/2SrqqMK
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People still struggling because of coronavirus
The Marietta Times
Oct. 2
Though the federal government does not seem anywhere near a second round of coronavirus aid, Ohio lawmakers and Gov. Mike DeWine - perhaps because they are closer and paying more attention to the situation - are working on an aid package that should soon deliver SOME relief to Buckeye State residents.
Fortunately, it appears as though they may be able to use federal funding to do that. As DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney pointed out this week, the measure is big enough and important enough that officials could move funding to help small businesses and those struggling to pay rent or mortgage payments through the state Controlling Board, which approves larger expenditures.
DeWine also announced this week the possibility of lifting the ban on alcohol sales after 10 p.m., as a way to help struggling restaurants and bars. These announcements come as Ohioans are again filing an increased number of unemployment claims - two week in a row of claims moving upward after weeks of declines.
“With the unfortunate unemployment numbers still too high, there are people struggling to pay their rent and there are landlords struggling to pay their mortgage,” said state Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls. “So we’re trying to provide some temporary financial assistance until we can get through this crisis.”
Lawmakers should find a way to make that happen as quickly as possible. The folks in Washington may not understand how much their constituents are still struggling; but those in Columbus know full well what is happening, and must do what they can to help.
Online: https://bit.ly/3noNvhA(backslash)
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