In 2003, I was editor-in-chief at the BG News. Even though I led a student newspaper, I was grossly uninformed about Ohio politics. Because we didn’t cover it. Nor did most other news outlets I followed.
To atone for my past ignorance, today I bring you a piece of state news — with a local twist!
A few members of the Ohio Senate — led by Bowling Green’s Theresa Gavarone — are trying to pass a bill that would effectively ban Ranked Choice Voting for local elections. That bill, Senate Bill 63, is designed to snuff out a hugely promising reform before any Ohio city even gets to try it (Cincinnati and several smaller cities are looking into it).
Ranked Choice Voting eliminates the “split vote” problem: You rank candidates in order of preference. If your first choice comes in last and no one else wins 50% of the vote, your vote transfers to your second choice and so on until someone wins a majority.
It’s a reform we desperately need: Ranked Choice Voting reduces negative campaigning and polarization because it forces candidates to win over a majority of voters, according to new research from the American Bar Association. It would have a huge impact on crowded primaries, where extreme candidates often pander to their base and win with 30% or 40% of the vote.
Without Ranked Choice, we can end up with candidates like J.R. Majewski, a guy who once said red states should secede from the country. He won his 2022 Congressional primary with 36% of the vote before getting trounced by Marcy Kaptur in the general election.
But you don’t have to like Ranked Choice Voting to oppose Senate Bill 63.
The state has no business telling cities how to run local elections. The Ohio Constitution gives cities “all powers of local self-government.” We call that “Home Rule.”
The bill’s authors know this. Thus, Senate Bill 63 wouldn’t “technically” ban Ranked Choice Voting. Instead, it uses coercion: Any city that dares to try Ranked Choice would be stripped of all money it receives from Ohio’s Local Government Fund.
If that move withstands legal scrutiny — and it shouldn’t — the state could apply this coercion technique in other ways. Will they take over zoning next? Or maybe local tax policy?
Republicans usually respect Ohio’s Home Rule tradition. But in this case they joined Senate Democrats to pass the bill. Why? Because Ranked Choice Voting increases competition: It lets you vote for less popular candidates (independents, third parties, moderates, etc.) without “wasting your vote.”
But the bill has yet to pass the Ohio House. So please: Go to RankTheVoteOhio.org and sign the Stop the Ban petition.
More importantly: Call the office of BG’s Ohio House rep, Haraz Ghanbari (614-466-8104). And if you’re from somewhere else in Ohio, call that rep, too. Tell them to oppose Senate Bill 63 (that’s still the bill’s name). Even if they don’t like Ranked Choice Voting, they must protect Home Rule.
Chuck Soder
Rocky River
BGSU student 1999 to 2003
