Candidates, voters keep busy on weekend before election
The final weekend of campaigning before Election Day brought activists out to ring doorbells and sent voters to local boards of election to cast their ballots early on Saturday.
As residents headed to downtown Dayton to vote early, multiple groups were working to communicate with voters. A group of about 90 Republicans gathered in Kettering to campaign for candidates. Meanwhile, state and local NAACP officials held a news conference to announce endorsements for the Five Rivers MetroParks 10-year, 2-mill replacement and additional levy— known as Issue 6 — and State Issue 1, a constitutional amendment which would ease some drug sentencing rules and allow for early release of some prisoners.
“We say vote yes on Issue 6. It’s the right thing to do for our children,” said Derrick L. Foward, president of the NAACP Dayton unit.
Tom Roberts, president of the NAACP Ohio Conference, said Issue 1 was endorsed because some drug offenses would be better handled by drug treatment instead of incarceration.
“We need to change this culture of criminalization. Issue 1 will do that,” Roberts said.
Some voters already had decided on their votes and were casting them early. By midday Saturday, the Montgomery County Board of Elections had 1,348 voters for the day and was on track to triple the total of midterm absentee turnout figures compared to the 2014 mid-term elections, said Jan Kelly, director of the board.
“It almost feels like a presidential election,” Kelly said as workers hustled to process voters.
Kristen Herder, 44, of Oakwood, said she was voting because she feels it is an important civic duty.
“(My husband and I) are retired Air Force and we worked many years to ensure everyone had the right to get out to do this,” Herder said.
Ethel Copenhaver, 82, of Dayton said she had a hard time getting registered when she moved to Ohio from Washington three years ago due to the documentation that state law requires, so she wasn’t able to vote until this year. She said she is concerned about the current political “chaos” in the U.S.
“I’m hoping my vote will make a difference,” Copenhaver said.
Republican activists gathered in Kettering on Saturday morning to ring doorbells and hand out signs and literature for their candidates. They got a pep talk from U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, and Secretary of State Jon Husted, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor with gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine, Ohio’s current Attorney General.
The other candidates for governor are Democrat Richard Cordray, former head of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Constance Gadell-Newton of the Green Party and Libertarian Travis Irvine. Election Day is Tuesday and the Dayton Daily News is committed to helping voters know what is on the ballots and where the candidates stand.
■ Voters guide online: Go to DaytonDailyNews.com/ voterguide to compare local candidates on the issues that matter. Also, learn more about the tax issues, school levies and other issues on your ballot.
■ Early voting hours: You can vote today at your county board of elections office from 1-5 p.m. On Monday, early voting is only from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Turner faces Beavercreek businesswoman Theresa Gasper, a Democrat, and Libertarian David Harlow.
“The team that wants it most will win,” Husted said.
He said Ohio Governor John Kasich has already campaigned for DeWine-Husted and President Donald Trump will stump for them in Cleveland on Monday.
Husted got a laugh from the room when he quipped, “The Dewine-Husted campaign may be the only thing John Kasich and Donald Trump agree on.”