Candidates This Fall

As you may know, I'm a big fan of Smart Voter.org. It's the League of Women Voters who organize volunteers in several states to contact Boards of Election and compile sample ballots and candidate info in simple, easy to read formats. Go check it out.

It's still early in the season for the full, official sample ballots. Those should be ready after 9/30/08 Issues are still being fought about in court, petitions still being signed, etc etc. But most of the national and state contests are listed, and here's the ones for the 12th Congressional/3rd State Senate/20th State Rep district in Ohio.

If you want the full Franklin County, Ohio list of national and state contests, go here.

Congress:

• Pat Tiberi (R)
• David Robinson (D)

State Representative:

• Nancy Garland (D)
• Jim McGregor (R)

Ohio Supreme Court:

6 Year Term Starting 1/1/09

• Joseph D. Russo (D)
• Maureen O'Connor (R)

6 Year Term Starting 1/2/09

• Evelyn L. Stratton (R)
• Peter M. Sikora (D)

Ohio Court of Appeals:

6 Year Term Starting 2/9/09

• David Goodman (R)
• John A. Connor (D)

6 Year Term Starting 7/1/09

• Richard D. Brown (D)
• Lisa L. Sadler (R)

Note, there are no US or State Senators being elected in this district in 2008. Gotta love those longer terms.

I couldn't find a damn thing about Richard D. Brown or Lisa L. Sadler, except Lisa L Sadler's entry in the Yellow Book. I also want to point out the majority of hits on John Connor were about his suspension and various misconducts...but you can look at the search results here.

Check it out, kids. Have fun.

Election Day

No, no national offices or issues are up for decision today. In fact, in Ohio there aren't even any state issues. But these are the elections when levies are passed or shot down, usually because no one but the advocates come out to vote.

So go vote.

In Ohio, don't forget your driver's license. Yes, you can still vote without it...but provisional ballots only get counted if the normal ballots are too close to call. So make sure you get in the first round fo decision making.

Smart Voter is a wonderful resource if you live in California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or New York. If you don't live in any of those, Smart Voter will send you to where you can get the info you need (such as voting stations and the ballot, so you know what you'll be voting on). You can also Google "Franklin County Board of Elections" (substituting your county, of course) and you should get what you need. If Google doesn't seem to do it, your state's website should have the election information posted that will direct you to the local organization.

This is the day people don't vote, and then ask later, "When the hell did they raise sales tax?? WHY??" Don't be like that, please. Take your duty as a citizen seriously.

Tomorrow, we'll cover how you can register to vote (in most cases). This week, we'll also go over how to READ a ballot, since I'm pretty sure they try to be difficult. In keeping with the election craze, I'll also update everyone on the results (at least in Hamilton County, OH).

Something to look forward too, eh?