I am absolutely appalled at the voting process in Ohio (Columbus: 2015, buy)

[Minervah]

Those who don't know anything about the people for whom they are voting get exactly what they deserve.

[woxyroxme]

In this day and age there is no reason to cast an uninformed vote.

Project Vote Smart - The Voter's Self Defense System

Vote411.org | Vote411.org

[jbcmh81]

I'm actually shocked that turnout in Franklin County was above 40% for an off-year election cycle.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by nep321

WHY DO THEY LEAVE THIS CRITICAL PIECE OF INFORMATION OFF THE BALLOT?!

Local elections in Ohio are non-partisan.

East Coast folks cannot understand that. But really, it's preferable this way. Do you really care which party your school board members belong to, if any? Does it really matter?

Have you figured out how to declare which party you want to be a member of yet? That ought to blow your mind

Originally Posted by nep321

That is absurd. Everyone should not expected to study up on EVERY single candidate.

What's absurd is that you just made that statement.

Almost everyone votes across party affiliation anyway.

You should move to Pennsylvania, where voters still can press one button to vote the party line.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

That's what's really absurd.

WHY would it be so bad to show their party affiliation?!

Because, for local elections, it's just not necessary.

Originally Posted by nep321

Basically, the state of Ohio is trying to control how people vote, by not showing the party affiliation. Totally absurd. NONE of the states on the east coast do this. To me, coming from the east coast, it feels like blatant voter suppression, which Ohio has a long history of, unfortunately.

Are you for real?

What Ohio is doing is allowing its local candidates to concentrate on issues and concerns rather than on pulling the party line. If you can't understand that, you really should stay away from the ballot box.

Originally Posted by nep321

But for some voters, the party affiliation is enough information to make a voting decision, and there is nothing wrong with that. In general, one party is pro-life, the other is pro-choice. One party is pro-gay rights, the other party is anti-gay rights. One party is for less government, the other is for more government. You see what I'm saying?

Yes, what you're saying is that you're terribly confused about what matters when it comes to selecting the people to represent you. Does it matter if a school board member is pro-life? Those decisions don't come up in the business of running the school district. Instead, you need to concentrate on what that school board member thinks about academics, budgeting, discipline, student life, and giving the school children the best education possible within the school's budget.

The lack of voter education these days is so disgusting! Ugh ...

[captainclipper]

As others have said, the election for Mayor of Columbus, City Council, etc, are all officially "non-partisan."

That said, for those races specifically, it doesn't really matter much in the end because Republicans never win and basically don't even compete.

The spring primary for Mayor had 4 candidates, 3 Ds and 1 R. The two highest vote-getters, regardless of political affiliation (2 Ds in this case), moved on to the general election.

[nep321]

I have not seen any rational arguments in this thread as to why the party affiliation should be left off the ballot (if there is one). I like it better in Connecticut and other states where they show the damn party affiliation, no questions asked. The Ohio voting process is absurd.

[Old Town FFX]

Originally Posted by nep321

I have not seen any rational arguments in this thread as to why the party affiliation should be left off the ballot (if there is one). I like it better in Connecticut and other states where they show the damn party affiliation, no questions asked. The Ohio voting process is absurd.

So leave Ohio.

Or, you could educate yourself on the people running, make educated votes and help the system as a whole by being an informed voter.

[woxyroxme]

What is appalling about the system is it makes no difference is you made an effort to educate yourself, worked hard in life, made all the right choices, researched all the candidates and issues or if you are a high school dropout that can't hold down a job and spend every night getting wasted and watch cartoons with a talking large order of fries - your votes count exactly the same.

[h Steve]

Originally Posted by woxyroxme

What is appalling about the system is it makes no difference is you made an effort to educate yourself, worked hard in life, made all the right choices, researched all the candidates and issues or if you are a high school dropout that can't hold down a job and spend every night getting wasted and watch cartoons with a talking large order of fries - your votes count exactly the same.

This is not a major worry for me as the person you describe rarely registers let alone makes the effort to vote.

[OhioJB]

Originally Posted by nep321

I just moved to Ohio (Franklin County) four months ago and today I went to the polls to cast my vote.

To my surprise, the ballot does NOT even show which party affiliation each candidate is part of. I was confused and immediately asked for help with one of the voting agents in the room I asked her, "umm....how do I know which party each person is affiliated with??" She said, "oh, it doesn't really show that." I said, " well that's pretty F'd up and unusual...in other states, they show the party."

I had to ignore NUMEROUS votes, because I had absolutely NO idea of each candidates ideology. When I got to the vote for mayor, they STILL didn't show the party affiliation. I had to freekin' stand there on my phone googling his name to find out what party he is with.

WHY DO THEY LEAVE THIS CRITICAL PIECE OF INFORMATION OFF THE BALLOT?!

Back in Connecticut, the ballot was organized by political party, so that you at least had SOME idea of who you're voting for.

In my opinion, this is a form of voter suppression/confusion, especially for those who are newcomers to Ohio or who may not be familiar with someone's name on the ballot, but generally wants to vote to reflect their own party affiliation.

I will be writing to the Franklin County Board of Elections to tell them that this is absurd and needs to change.

Actually nep321, I agree with you. Whether someone's a Democrat or Republican gives voters an insight into how they think, and how they may handle the position they are running for. There's very little information to find on the internet or elsewhere for some of the candidates despite what some people have posted in this thread. I'm a native Ohioan but have lived in several different states or territories, and have felt its a better process when knowing a candidate's political party.