LOOKING FOR POLL WORKERS
Boards of elections are frequently looking for poll workers. Those interested in becoming a poll worker in any election can receive more information online at PEOinOhio.com.
In Butler County, contact the board of elections at 513-887-3700 or visit www.butlercountyelections.org.
In Warren County, contact the board of elections at 513-695-1358 or visit www.warrencountyboe.us.
EARLY VOTING HOURS
Every board of elections in Ohio will maintain the same early voting hours. They are as follows:
- Wednesday, Oct. 12 to Friday, Oct. 14: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 17 to Friday, Oct. 21: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 24 to Friday, Oct. 28: 8 p.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 29: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 30: 1 to 5 p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 31 to Friday, Nov. 4: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 5: 8 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 6: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Monday, Nov. 7: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Source: Ohio Secretary of State
There won’t be a lot for Butler County voters to decide after they choose their candidates for the national, statewide and congressional races in November.
Butler County voters will pick who they want for sheriff and those voters in the 51st and 53rd Ohio House districts and the 4th Ohio Senate district will also choose a representative to send to Columbus.
But the remaining 13 countywide races — which are listed on the ballot before residents see community-specific pocketbook issues — are uncontested.
“The small number of contested races is a function here of the partisan balance that we have here in Southwest Ohio,” said Miami University Regional political science professor John Forren. “If you look the ballot, the sheer number of races where there’s one candidate, it’s surprising to people if they haven’t seen it before.”
But this issue is “a chicken and egg kind of problem,” he said.
“The Democrats have a difficult time recruiting candidates to run in races they’re not likely to win and as result you can’t win if you don’t run candidates,” Forren said.
All of Butler County will decide if they want to keep Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones or replace him with Dale Richter, a former police officer.
Some voters, depending on where they live, may also see these races on their ballot:
- Incumbent Ohio Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., and Oxford Twp. Trustee John Kinne will compete for the 4th Ohio Senate District, which includes all but a portion of Middletown;
- Incumbent Rep. Wes Retherford, R-Hamilton, and Fairfield resident Johnny Hamilton will compete for the 51st Ohio House District, which includes the Ross Twp., Hamilton and Fairfield, and portions of Fairfield, Hanover, and St. Clair townships.
- Monroe Vice Mayor Suzi Rubin and Community Pregnancy Center Executive Director Candice Keller will compete for the 53rd Ohio House District, a seat that was formerly held by Rep. Tim Derickson, R-Hanover Twp., who could not seek re-election. It includes portions of Middletown and northern and western portions of Butler County.
Butler County GOP Executive Chairman Todd Hall said his party can’t help if there aren’t contested races. All partisan countywide seats are held by Republicans, and only one nonpartisan judicial seat is held by a Democrat (juvenile court Judge Kathleen Romans).
“It’s really more of a question for the Democrats as to why there are so few competitive races in Butler County,” Hall said. “But it probably comes down to the fact that Butler County voters aren’t going to support the liberal big government, tax and spending policies on which their party platform is based on.”
But Butler County Democratic Party leaders question why voters support Republicans on the ballot, citing the results of an anonymous survey of the Ohio General Assembly by the Columbus Monthly magazine, which does not look favorably upon the county's state lawmakers.
“It’s sad that the strongest thing to get bipartisan support in the state legislature is the view that Coley and Retherford are considered the least principled members in the General Assembly. And how arrogant can one be to turn off other politicians?” said Butler County Democratic Party Executive Chairwoman Jocelyn Bucaro. “Butler County families deserve effective legislators in Columbus, not this kind of embarrassment.”
November's election has been touted by many as "the most important election of our lifetime," including President Barack Obama when referencing the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
The race for president has obviously received the most attention and scrutiny, but the uniqueness of this election year was illustrated by the 8th Congressional District race — 15 people ran for former Speaker of the House John Boehner’ congressional seat, U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, who won a special election, and the Democrat who was to run in November withdrew and a special election was needed to fill his spot.
That race will come down to a final 2016 contest on Nov. 8 between Davidson and former congressional aide Steven Fought.
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