Ohio

Hopefully RTA will take heed of this and start to develop on their giant station-adjacent parking lots. It'll drive ridership, produce revenue, and provide lots of good housing.

Accessible Ohio is the first-ever coordinated effort in Ohio to support businesses, communities, attractions, and venues in becoming more accessible and inclusive.

...

We are seeking input on strategies to reach local partners and share information about Accessible Ohio services, personal or observed experiences in public activities and environments, examples of ways to overcome barriers to access, and possible funding resources for partners.

If you have a disability and have been excluded at a place of public accommodation in Ohio, this event may be an opportunity to bring the problem to the attention of state employees.

An Ohio Republican is seeking to stop funding to cities that use ranked-choice voting, which makes it easier for minorities to get elected

Cleveland is love. You should travel to Cleveland, stand on the shore, and drink expensive tea.

The state legislature is trying to make it harder for the people to have a say in their democracy. Vote "No!" Retain the right to amend the constitution, or else the bar will be set so high only the legislature will get to propose amendments!

That's it. That's the post. Drag your friends to the polls, too, while you're at it.

I'm seeing a lot of confused voters on Facebook and Nextdoor and I want to do my best to convince them to vote no. Unfortunately, they are willing to give up their voting power just to spite people who are in favor of preserving the right to abortion.

I've been voting regularly in Ohio for a while now, yearly at least, if not primaries too, so my registration has stayed current. I haven't needed to get registered for years. I always check, though.

So this is a heads-up to everyone else in that position. Check your registration, today. Check the website of your local county board of elections to verify you're registered, first.

I checked my registration status today and VOTER NOT FOUND in the county's website. I just had to go online to the Secretary of State's site and march through the online form real quick.

A note from personal experience: If you march through the online form and things seem to act weird toward the end, you're probably still registered and that confuses the site. If the form works like it should, you weren't registered.

Here's what's up with August:

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/state/2023/06/26/ohio-august-special-election-what-to-know-about-issue-1-amendment/70273278007/

Long story short, abortion rights are on the line, but the August vote is actually about the ability to amend the state constitution. This August vote was the Republican's idea, and its goal has been publicly stated, to prevent the voters from getting abortion rights into the constitution, later, as in this November when it will likely be on the ballot. The full details are better handled by that Dispatch story, above.

So, being Republicans, they've been getting shady, which means long-time voters, probably ones with D on their record, are finding themselves purged from the rolls.

If you're lefty at all, and I assume you are if you're here, you need to go to your county website, check your voter registration, make sure you haven't been purged, and then I strongly suggest that you take full advantage of early voting and walk into your county office to vote as soon as possible.

I was relying on mail ballots for a while, but things started getting dodgy when Trump took office, I don't trust those ballots to show up in a timely manner, anymore, and I don't want to trust the mail with this, specifically. Nice mail-in ballot you've got there, it would be a shame if it got lost in the system somehow.

You might as well register online at the Secretary of State's website, I just did. For good measure, you might consider walking into your county office and inquiring in person, though don't be surprised if they tell you to go online or give you a form to mail.

Get yourself registered, TODAY, and make plans to walk your butt into that office and put a stylus on the screen. If a mail ballot is your only option, then get that going, today, but I warn you that you first have to send in an application for the ballot, by mail, then wait for the ballot to return, by mail, and the time to do that was months in advance.

For the record, I follow the Ohio Capital Journal online to stay on top of this stuff, I recommend it.

I hope this post doesn't look like shit that would be embarrassing.

“Where are you from?” Hanna asks between bites.

“Columbus, Ohio,” the family guest says.

Hanna built the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium into one of the nation's best. He then captivated national audiences on David Letterman’s late-night talk show, "Good Morning America" and a number of his own Emmy-winning animal series that still run in syndication. He traveled the globe as a leading animal conservationist promoting Columbus. It was his home for decades. It’s even where he once said he wanted his ashes spread whenever he passes away.

But in this moment, none of that history feels familiar.

Hanna pauses, then asks a question. “Have I ever been to Columbus, Ohio?”

This is your reminder to be making sure to vote on August 8th, but that's not enough. Make sure those around you are voting too.

I've been seeing stuff shared on Facebook from family members about Catholic churches holding "nonpartisan" voter registration drives and encouraging people to get to the polls on August 8th.

If they are gonna remind people, you need to as well.

Early voting starts July 11.

Last day to register is July 10,

Remember to secure a valid state ID, driver’s license, or passport before the election!

Hello all,

The way I see it, the kind of person willing to be an early-adopter is the kind of person with gumption. They're willing to deal with uncertainty, they're willing to stake out a claim based on principles, they're willing to put in a little extra work where it's needed.

Alight, maybe, maybe not.

But if that sounds like you, I want to recruit you to lead a referendum to switch Ohio or a local government in Ohio to Approval Voting.

If you haven't heard of Approval Voting before, here it is:

1. Vote for everyone you like.
2. Most votes wins.

That's it.

But OH BOY does it fix a lot of problems. Under Approval, it's always safe to vote for your favorite candidate. With Approval, you can't submit an invalid ballot. And best of all, Approval voting doesn't have spoilers.

Approval Voting helps show how much support every candidate in the race actually has, since there was nothing stopping anyone from voting for them. Everyone's final total represents their approval rating!

If this sounds like a good deal to you, let me know and we can talk about what it would take to switch your elections to approval. If you have any questions, fire away! I'm even perfectly happy to tell you what kinds of problems and limitations approval has, because all voting systems have problems and limitations!

P.S. I couldn't find any community specific rules and I'm not sure if this counts as advertising or spam per the site rules but if it does let me know and I'll delete the post.

P.P.S. I do actually live in Ohio, I'm not gonna go around recruiting people for projects in a state where I don't live.

It feels like there shouldn't really be discussion on this, which is when reps trying to defend prison labor start to speak up

Looks like some nasty storms/potential tornadoes are pushing through northern Ohio. It missed up here in Toledo, thankfully. Take cover and don't be dumb!

Ren down for a couple days but back now. How has Ohio been?

Beautiful weather in Northeast Ohio Saturday. Took my hiking buddy out for a 6 mile adventure.