Ohio Supreme Court has denied a request to stop a directive banning people delivering ballots for other voters from using drop boxes and requiring them to come into the Board of Elections to sign that they have authorization to drop off those ballots Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued the directive on Aug 31. Military/oveseas ballots went out Sept. 21. Early voting started on Oct. 8. The court's 4 Republicans said in the ruling that in filing the lawsuit on Sept. 27, the directive's challengers waited too long.

On ABC This Week this morning, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine says "there's a lot of garbage on the internet" and there's no evidence of legal Haitian immigrants eating pets and he's been told that hate groups are coming into Springfield, even the KKK The false rumors about Haitians have been spread by former president Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the GOP VP nominee. Gov. Mike DeWine says he supports Trump - "I am a Republican" - but "we need to focus on "moving forward and not dogs and cats being eaten; it's just ridiculous"

Some data on yesterday’s election in Ohio, where voters approved a reproductive rights/abortion amendment - Issue 1 - and a law to legalize recreational marijuana - Issue 2. 🧵 1/14 Unofficial turnout is 48.86%. 3,903,274 ballots cast from Ohio’s 7,988,132 registered voters. There are 58,593 provisional ballots - most will be counted. There are 34,231 outstanding absentees – most won’t be counted. About 3.95m ballots will be counted, so turnout: 49.5%. 2/14

More evidence the plan to require 60% voter approval to make it harder to amend Ohio’s constitution will be on the August ballot, though August special elections were eliminated in a law passed last year: a bill introduced in the Ohio Senate to create an August special election Page 2 of the bill to create an August special election “for the purpose of submitting a statewide ballot issue to the voters under Section 1 of Article XVI, Ohio Constitution” - August special elections were eliminated in a law passed late last year that takes effect April 7

Franklin County’s early voting center in Columbus just opened for the final day of weekend early voting in Ohio, and there was a long line waiting

#OHSen debate between Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican JD Vance is underway in Cleveland. It will be divided into topics with five minutes of discussion - that was proposed by Ryan and agreed to by Vance. First question to Vance: you've said the economy is already in a recession. Do you think some stimulus money is well spent?
Vance: Some is, but some is putting fuel on the fire of problems. I believe we've gone in a fundamentally bad direction, Ryan has voted 100% of w Dems.

I'll be watching the first of two US Senate debates w Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican JD Vance tonight. As a preview, here's some of what we at the Statehouse News Bureau have talked to the candidates about - starting with climate change/electric cars: statenews.org/government-pol… My Statehouse News Bureau colleague @andy_chow spent a day on the campaign trail with both candidates - first, Tim Ryan on September 13 statenews.org/government-pol…

Ohio redistricting🧵ahead:

It may be useful to look back on what voters in 2015 would have seen and had access to about Issue 1, the ballot issue to change the process of drawing Ohio House/Senate maps.

2,126,822 voters said yes, or 71.47% - an overwhelming approval. When the previous Ohio House/Senate maps were drawn in 2011, they were created by the 5 member Apportionment Board, made up of the governor, auditor, secretary of state and two members selected by legislative leaders of both parties. Issue 1 changed that. (more)

Yet another critical deadline coming up at midnight for the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which has had two sets of House/Senate maps rejected as unconstitutionally gerrymandered toward Republicans by the Ohio Supreme Court. Map stands are set up, so maybe new ones coming. House Minority Leader @Russo4Ohio urges adoption of maps proposed by Democrats, showing 45D-54R House districts, 15D-18R Senate districts. @SpeakerCupp asks for copies of maps, which are distributed.

.@GovMikeDeWine and @FranDeWine are with @OHNationalGuard personnel deploying to hospitals overwhelmed by COVID patients and staff shortages. Ohio has the fourth highest COVID hospitalization rate in the country. A few more shots from DeWine as he talks to @OHNationalGuard personnel headed to Ohio hospitals to help w high COVID patient loads and lowered staffing

2021 was quite a year in Ohio. Here's a thread with a look back, from my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau and me. Let's start with the budget, a measure to limit the governor's health orders and other bills that passed, from @joingles: statenews.org/government-pol… And there were even more bills that didn't pass the Ohio House and Senate, including measures on vaccines and mandates, banning transgender athletes and legalizing marijuana - that recap from @andy_chow: statenews.org/government-pol…

Ohio Supreme Court is underway - arguments are remote and not in the courtroom. The Congressional map case is the only one on the docket today. Lawsuits have been filed over the map, which takes Ohio from 16 districts to 15, by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the National Redistricting Action Fund.

.@GovMikeDeWine signs bill into law that bans Ohio public schools and universities from requiring COVID-19 vaccines for students and staff. Here's more on the story from my Statehouse News Bureau colleague @andy_chow: statenews.org/post/dewine-si…

.@OHdeptofhealth says “It’s clear that the delta variant is on the rise in Ohio” and that it's "on a trajectory to become the dominant strain in Ohio". Says this strain of COVID is highly contagious and is a real threat to the unvaccinated, especially for those under 50. Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff with ODH says acknowledges risks of COVID vaccines, but says "those risks are small indeed compared with the risks of COVID-19 for people of any age". Notes cases, hospitalizations are up over the last few weeks, and says delta variant "is rapidly increasing"

Ohio education groups that supported the House's school funding formula overhaul say they're concerned about the Senate's plan. New report says it uses property values from 2014, 2015 and 2016, income data from 2013 and student enrollment counts and teacher salary data from 2019. The report from @OHschoolboards, @oasbo and @BASA_Supt says: “By using data that is now three bienniums old, the Senate’s school funding proposal will create significant disruptions and likely be much more costly in the FY24-25 biennium" when that data is updated"

My Statehouse News Bureau colleagues @joingles and @andy_chow and I are checking into reports of an armed march at the Statehouse Sunday. Not much can be said by @OSHP and @GovMikeDeWine, as well as @OhioAG Dave Yost. His office says they're "aware and monitoring the situation."

https://twitter.com/karenkasler/status/1348637761771810817

For those wondering why Ohio might be a target, since President Trump won this state by 8 points, there was a protest at the Statehouse on Jan 6, the same day of the violent insurrection at the US Capitol:

https://twitter.com/karenkasler/status/1346874087856087042?s=20

A roundup of tweets this weekend from Ohio's 16 members of Congress (12 R, 4 D) - starting with Democrat @TimRyan of the Youngstown area and heads a subcommittee that funds the Capitol Police

https://twitter.com/TimRyan/status/1348315922017243138?s=20

Congressman @RepDaveJoyce, a Republican from northeast Ohio, shared this criticism of President Trump - he also noted the apparent death by suicide of a Capitol Police officer this weekend

https://twitter.com/RepDaveJoyce/status/1348321755140673539?s=20

After multiple calls for her to resign following her Facebook post voicing support for the insurrection at the US Capitol and calling incoming VP Kamala Harris a derogatory name, Susan Allan Block has resigned from the Ohio Arts Council board A DeWine spokesperson had said Block’s comments “are highly offensive and do not represent the views of this administration." But there wasn't much DeWine could do to remove her without advice and consent of the Ohio Senate.

"I have seen illness and death on a scale that I have never seen in my career. I have admitted families. I've had to put spouses next to each other while one or both die. These are things that I have never had to do before." From a Ohio doctor I talked to this morning. (more) This doc is at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center, and had never done an interview before, but agreed to share his views for this week's @stateofohioshow about what he's seeing. He also said: "Every night, we deal with folks who don't believe they have COVID."

With COVID numbers soaring, new signs at the Ohio Statehouse show the building is now requiring masks, instead of them being "highly recommended". House and Senate Committee meetings are scheduled for tomorrow, and both chambers are scheduled to be in session Wednesday. Republican former Speaker Larry @HouseholderOH (who was re-elected to his seat) said repeatedly he couldn't require members of the House to wear masks. His replacement @SpeakerCupp will wear a mask, but hasn't announced if it will be required in the House

https://twitter.com/karenkasler/status/1288949096678453248?s=20

There's less than a week till Election Day, with early voting in Ohio going till Nov 2.

2.2 million Ohioans have voted early, compared to 1.9 million in all of 2016. In the 60 counties where data is available for both 2020 and 2016, here's what early voting looks like. In those 60 Ohio counties, so far in 2020 there's been an increase of 756,163 absentee ballot requests or in person early votes over all of those votes in 2016. That's a 61% increase.