Larose, craft brewers push voter registration
State elections officials are asking Ohioans to “raise a glass to democracy” by registering to vote while enjoying their favorite craft brews. Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose is partnering with over 30 breweries to promote voter registration. He plans to announce the endeavor Wednesday morning at Seventh Son Brewing Company in Columbus.
Collin Castore, the president of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association and co-founder of Seventh Son Brewing Co., said deciding to partner with the secretary of state’s office came down to helping their communities get involved with their democracy.
“2020 is definitely a year where people need to pay attention to what is going on in the world and get out there and vote,” Castore said.
Ohio had over 8 million registered voters in the 2018 midterm election and a turnout of 55.72%. Voter turnout could increase in 2020 because it is a presidential election year but also could decline because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ohio has over 300 breweries, with around 200 members of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association.
Castore said he hopes this effort will help increase voter registration numbers and alleviate any negative effect the pandemic has on them. He said spreading this information to brewery customers has the potential to attract new voters to the polls.
“It's something that everyone can get behind,” Castore said. “It's not partisan. Just go out and get involved and do what it takes to do your part.”
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5 for the Nov. 3 general election. You can register either online at the secretary of state’s website or in person at the county board of elections.
More details about how the breweries intend to help register people to vote will be released at the event Wednesday.
Larose’s family runs the House of Larose beverage distribution business, a major beer distributor in northeast Ohio. gshillcock@dispatch.com @shillcockgeorge