June 21, 2023
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Today, Cleveland.com reported that state officials are scrambling to fix errors in ballot language summarizing State Issue 1 before early voting begins this Friday. In response, All Voting is Local Ohio State Director Kayla Griffin released the following statement:
“The last minute scramble to fix these ballot errors is exactly what happens when you hold a last minute election for your own vested interests. It now falls on local elections officials who are already under massive pressure to get this election to take place, even though this is the Secretary of State’s error to fix. This is yet another unnecessary burden placed on elections officials, who knew how cumbersome this unnecessary special election would be.
“This is why elections should not be held at the last minute on the taxpayers’ dime. These errors come amidst the already egregious reality that this election is being held at the whim of legislators who want to silence Ohioans on ballot initiatives that these same lawmakers oppose. Shame on the Secretary of State’s office, and the lawmakers who enabled it, for this avoidable ballot error that election boards now have to clean up.”
Background:
Last month, state legislators defied pleas from a bipartisan group of county elections directors and boards of elections members urging them not to schedule a special election this August. Per Cleveland.com, “They said such a contest would be unreasonably expensive on a per-ballot basis, threatens to further exhaust election workers, and could leave a massive constitutional question in the hands of a thin turnout.”
The current situation proves that election officials were correct in their prediction of a last-minute special election causing problems and placing an unnecessary burden on election administrators, as well as voters.