We drove by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Tuesday, a week before the November 3 election. We found traffic backed up and swarms of people headed to the entrance. It feels like there’s something shifting in the air, and you must be a part of it. Go VOTE! Because things CAN and DO change. Early voting takes place every day this week through Sunday November 1 (Wednesday-Friday 7:30am-7:30pm, Saturday, 8am-4pm, and Sunday 1-5pm), then at your polling place November 3 from 6:30am-7:30pm. Find out what you need to know about parking, access etc. HERE.
Over the past year, at least one major national newspaper has running a feature “ranking” the 2028 presidential candidates in both major parties. For a good indication about what a futile exercise this is (it started nearly three years out!), all we have to do is look at the political situation in Ohio a week out from the November 3 election and look back at the beginning of last year.
In early January 2025, Dr. Amy Acton announced her run for the Democratic nomination. Seven weeks later, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced his run for the Republican nomination, boosted by an endorsement from the White House which pushed out more established Ohio politicians who were coveting the office. Democrats, meanwhile, were unexcited about their political neophyte and frantically looking around for what they believed would be a stronger candidate. There was talk that Democratic insiders were pushing former Senator Sherrod Brown to run for governor; he eventually opted to be on your November 3 ballot to regain a seat in the Senate—a better fit for him.
Across the political spectrum it was widely assumed that Ramaswamy would crush political newcomer Acton like a bug, never mind that Ramaswamy is even more of a political newcomer (Neither has ever served in office, although Acton was director of public health under current Ohio Governor Mike DeWine from February 2019 to June 2020.)
But things changed—a lot. No “better” candidate was found by Democrats and Acton blossomed as a candidate and speaker, spending nearly two years on the ground in Ohio talking to group of all sizes and types. Ramaswamy, meanwhile, became known for spending much of his time out of the state and when he was in Ohio, flying over it in a private plane. By summer of this year, Acton was leading many polls.
And then there was last week. I probably don’t need to tell most people what Ramaswamy did; it was a huge breakout story that evoked international revulsion. In a nutshell, Ramaswamy’s campaign scraped up Acton’s mother, from whom she’s been estranged for nearly 50 years due to her defense of a stepfather who raped Amy starting when she was 10, and cut an ad in which mom calls Amy a “liar” for saying things that have been verified in court documents. Many Republicans, including DeWine, Senator Jon Husted, and even secretary of state Frank LaRose, condemned the ad. The only two Republicans defended it: the president and his VP. The whole landscape of the election has been turned upside down.
Sure, Ramaswamy could still win, no matter how repellent his actions are. But he shouldn’t, and he won’t, if everyone gets out and votes for basic decency.
And it is your responsibility to get out and vote anyway, even if you vote for Ramaswamy. (We WILL question why you would vote for a man who has platformed a woman who protected a child rapist and diminished the abuse, but you do you.)
We also ask that you go prepared. There are entire slates of statewide officials who have a lot of impact. The Secretary of State oversees elections. Democrat Allison Russo is prepared to make it easier for citizens to vote; Republican Robert Sprague wants to make it harder, even abolishing drop boxes. The aforementioned Frank LaRose, unable to get an elevation a higher office, is taking a step down and running for auditor, a job he’s shown no interest in or qualifications for. His Democrat opponent, Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell, is a numbers expert who pulled her struggling city out of fiscal emergency and onto the right path. There are also races for attorney general—important because it’s the AG who stands up for the rights of their citizens (or should anyway)—and state treasurer, an unsexy office often used as a steppingstone to something bigger.
You’ll also find a long slate of judges of your ballot, headed by two state Supreme Court races: the excellent Jennifer Brunner defending her seat against Colleen O’Donnell, and Marilyn Zayas running against incumbent Dan Hawkins. There’s also a long list of appeals court and county common pleas court judges, many running unopposed, which makes it easier: learn about the contested races.
Finally, citizens of Cuyahoga County will be voting on two levies: Department of Developmental Disabilities (Issue 10) and Health and Human Services (Issue 11). These are hard choices for compassionate citizens struggling to pay bills. Keep in mind that state and federal cuts made these necessary, and remember which candidates are likely to make more cuts and require more levies if they were in office. Ramaswamy, for instance, is proposing abolishing the state income tax, most heavily paid by the wealthy, and making such levies a constant feature on ballots across the state.
If you want to do research before you vote, you can go to the Board of Elections website and pull up a copy of your ballot ahead of time.
