One issue that will weigh in on Ohio voter’s minds this election season is jobs. Ohio has lost an enormous amount of jobs to outsourcing and the two Senate candidates, Mike DeWine and Sherrod Brown have very differing views of free trade:

Akron businessman John Johnston might have had enough. Six years ago, the registered Republican, who is involved with two separate steel distribution and processing ventures, voted for Sen. Mike DeWine.

This time, Johnston is leaning toward voting for DeWine’s Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown of Avon. If so, the switch will result mainly from Brown’s vocal criticism of a series of freetrade agreements approved by Congress and supported by DeWine.

“A lot of the products that used to be made here now are made overseas,” Johnston said. “Nobody is against trade. It’s all about what is fair.

“Pretty much everybody we compete against is subsidized in one form or another, especially with what you see in China,” Johnston said, adding he thinks China and other countries also gain an advantage through currency manipulation. “It is about jobs. Where (Brown’s) trade policies stand is where this country needs to go for the future.”

Blackwell has finally done one thing somewhat right. He has removed some of his duties over seeing elections here in Ohio:

In his push to become the next governor of Ohio, Ken Blackwell has handed some of his secretary of state duties over to his chief deputy.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Assistant Secretary of State Monty Lobb has been directing county election boards and breaking tie votes among county officials.

Blackwell’s spokesman says the Republican nominee for governor is permitted by law to hand off those duties and is still responsible for every decision made by his office.

The president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials says Blackwell’s leadership is especially needed this year because of changes to state election law.

Of course those “changes to state election law” are the big catcher, and here is one of those changes which is meeting with opposition:

In a change mandated by the state, voters will now be required to show a valid form of identification when they want to cast a ballot.

Geauga County Board of Elections Director Arch Kimbrew told board members Friday that, under House Bill 3, the county is now required to notify all of its 63,000 voters of the change.

The order will cost the county more than $16,000, or about 25 cents a voter, Kimbrew told the board members.

Postcards will be sent to all voters to warn them that they must bring some sort of ID with them when they go to the polls for the Nov. 7 general election.
A driver’s license with a current address is preferred, but the following will also be acceptable, according to Kimbrew:

Current and valid photo ID with address

• Military ID
• Current utility bill
• Bank statement
• Government check stub

If the person fails to bring valid identification to the polls, he or she will be able to vote with a provisional ballot, which will count once it is checked for validity by Board of Elections officials, Kimbrew said.

Also on the Governor race, Blackwell has decided to be a little more “secretive”:

Republican candidate for Ohio governor Ken Blackwell decided last week that he wouldn’t show his income tax return to voters, something even wealthy, low-rated incumbent Republican Gov. Bob Taft did in both his runs for the state’s highest office. This is a political mistake. The refusal becomes the story. Voters wonder why. It is better to open up all information, which only election junkies would look at, thus getting it out of the way of real issues.

Meanwhile, Democrat candidate Ted Strickland says he will release his tax returns. Of course, this will be a lot easier for the Southern Ohio congressman, since he doesn’t have as much as his opponent. Blackwell is a millionaire, with most of the money presumably coming from the sale of a string of radio stations he owned with other investors.

I guess Blackwell is scared of reminding Ohio voters that he is an investor in Diebold. Don’t worry Ken – we won’t forget.

Onto a less popular race, the race for state auditor. This race also holds good news for Ohio:

A new poll by commissioned by AFSCME and conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group shows State Rep. Barbara Sykes (D-Akron) with a 17 point lead over State Rep. Mary Taylor (R-Green) in the contest to replace incumbent Betty Montgomery (R), who is running for Attorney General:

• 39% Sykes (D)
• 22% Taylor (R)
• 39% Undecided

The poll was conducted June 27 through July 2 with a sampling of over 400 Ohio households and has a margin of error of 4 points.

Ohioans even trust Democrats more than Republicans with money now. We really may become “Blue Ohio” after all.