I call it... "How it feels living in Ohio during election years."

Ohio Democratic Party needs drastic reform.

At least that's how Vivek feels. His choice to platform Donna Acton knowing she isnt credible shows that he thinks ohio conservatives are dumb and that they'll believe it in order to motivate conservative voter turnout. Truly despicable!

Recently I was talking to my friends dad who is a lifelong Elyrian and he was telling me about the time when his friend whom he’s known for decades woke up at like 2 am (sometime in the late 2000s or early 2010s) to take the dog out and smoke a cigarette and when he looked up he saw a giant ufo flying super low “covering a few city blocks.” His friend said it “looked like the bottom of a Star Wars ship” like the bottom of the imperial star destroyer in the opening scene of A New Hope. Then after hovering for a while it sped off and disappeared. Now I asked him if he believed his friend or if he has any alcohol of substance abuse issues and he said he’s a extremely honest guy with no issues like that and he seemed to genuinely been spooked. Personally I’m still extremely skeptical what exactly he saw but it’s fascinating. I couldn’t find any news stories about it and was wondering if anyone else has heard about this incident.

Three excellent Independent candidates on the ballot in districts 44, 87, and 97. Districts which are solidly Republican. These 3 races can contribute hugely to breaking the Republican supermajority in the House. And if the Democrats flip most or all of their target 8 districts, these 3 will narrow the margin even further and create a truly responsive House.

Independents can win. Independents are much stronger in most Ohio districts. Independents are the strategic vote. People need to start understanding that strategic voting means identifying who can win and that it's often NOT a major party candidate because of how gerrymandered and polarized our districts are.

I grew up in a rural area of Ohio, near a lake, where it wasn't completely weird to go for a walk or park at one of our parks and hang out on a bench at 3am. I live in central Ohio now and I am really looking to get out more often. I work night shifts, which I love and would not change, but living in the suburbs people call the cops if I go park my car at a park at 3am, or they all have those "Closes at Dusk" signs up. I also have zero interest in walking around the city late at night, complete opposite vibe of what I would enjoy.

Anywhere within an hour or two of Columbus would be great, honestly I'd probably check out anywhere at this point. I love the areas around Wayne National Forest (Moonville, Athens, etc.) so any suggestions in that vein would be appreciated.

I find it kinda interesting Ohio has never banned faithless elector votes. The majority of the midwest has, and many states have passed essentially identical bills compared to this on both sides of the political spectrum IE california and texas, on nearly unanimous support.

Is there a reason Ohio hasn't introduced this bill that has been around since 2010? How do you feel about ending faithless electors?

Fascinating and informative article about the winners and losers in Ohio's data center boom and the residents caught in the middle. Written by Ohio State professor, Dr. Madhumita Dutta and Larkin Cleland, a Columbus-based journalist.

The ads are almost done. Our local FB had this posted and it made me laugh. Hope it adds a chuckle to your day as well.

Story from the LA Times: California conservative group linked to Ohio news site promoting Ramaswamy Acton ad - Los Angeles Times

East of Canton on rt 62.

I recently applied to medicaid. How long does it typically take to get approved?

Been seeing some posts about absentee ballot issues and I wanted to chime in. Summit County BOE mailed out my ballot on the 19th, and I haven’t received it yet. Just gave them a call and apparently the state has been having major issues with mail in ballots due to delays with the post office. They also have no mechanism for tracking/finding the ballots once they’re sent out 😬

Tomorrow is the last day they can mail out a mail in ballot— so if you haven’t received yours, give your BOE a call! If it doesn’t come by tomorrow, I’ll either be calling the post office or just waiting it out and priority mailing it in.

Repost as I didn't include the source link, which is the Ohio Board of Elections dashboard.

I was looking at the early voting totals through yesterday and comparing them to 2024. To date, Democrats have an early voting lead of 55,888 over Republicans, and that lead has been growing. As is thought that Democrats vote early more often, that's less important. What's more interesting to me is comparing to 2024.
To date, Democratic early voting is now 74.9% of all of 2024's early voting total. Meanwhile, Republicans are only at 39.7% of their 2024 early voting, so it seems like Dems are poised to beat 2024, but Republicans will be way under. It's significant because 2024 was a presidential election year, which tends to have higher turnout than midterm elections.
I suppose this could mean Republicans will vote on Election Day itself like normal, but it could also indicate a big enthusiasm gap with more Republicans just staying home.
Either way, while some signs are positive, no one should get complacent. If you are registered to vote, go do so.

Secretary of State Data Portal The numbers are here.

This might be a longshot, but my fellow thrifters will get it.

I’m located in Boston and would like to purchase something small from Mercy Unlimited, Inc. Matthew 25 Ministry & Thrift Store. Would anyone be willing to ship it to me? It’s a $10 item.

Who is funding this effort? How and why is my phone number still associated with my voting records?

Does anyone know any haunted houses with bars within an hour of Cleveland?

Ive already been to factory of terror like 4 times this year and I'm looking for something else similar with a bar and preferably games too

Under Ohio law it is currently a first-degree misdemeanor to abandon or fail to provide adequate support to an aged or infirm parent who lacks the means to support themselves. A conviction carries up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

While this law is rarely enforced in the Ohio I think the current situation with Amy Acton and her seemingly indigent bio mother highlights why it should be repealed entirely. Then protections need to be added in to prevent enforcement of similar laws (both civil and criminal) from being enforced on Ohio citizens from other states. Notably because of PA since they are the most active in enforcing their filial responsibility laws both intra and inter state; PA also seems to be where Amy Acton's bio mother is living these days. Republicans in PA partnering with their brethren in Ohio could decide to use the law as a weapon against Amy Acton even if she does not win the current election. But also, those laws should be done away with their entirety.

Hey fellow Ohioans, I want to address a systemic public health failure by the state government that is actively shortchanging taxpayers and endangering high-risk individuals across all 88 counties.

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has centralized its respiratory illness reporting into a dashboard that is an interactive mess—it’s difficult to navigate, poorly organized, and completely lacks actionable, real-time numbers.

Instead of tracking current community viral load, the dashboard relies on cumulative hospitalizations. Hospitalizations are a severe lagging indicator. By the time a patient is admitted to an ICU, that specific viral wave has already been tearing through schools, workplaces, and grocery stores for three to four weeks. It tells us where the virus was, giving vulnerable citizens zero warning to protect themselves today.

Even worse, ODH used to publish incredibly useful weekly reports broken down by the state's official Surveillance Regions (Northwest, Northeast, Central, West Central, Southwest, and Southeast). They killed those reports. Now, the state and the CDC only push a single, flat "statewide average" for Influenza-Like Illness (ILI).

But diseases do not spread evenly across Ohio. Cleveland or Columbus could be experiencing a massive surge while Toledo and Cincinnati are completely quiet, or vice versa. A single statewide average completely erases our regional realities, masking local outbreaks and leaving communities completely unprepared.

ODH is actively hiding early-warning data points like regional clinical laboratory test positivity rates and outpatient doctor visit percentages—metrics that neighboring states like Michigan openly publish in clean, weekly text summaries.

I am an Ohioan managing severe asthma with a history of ICU flu stays. I rely on real-time data to know when to wear an N95 mask so I can protect my health and stay employed. Our tax dollars fully fund this public infrastructure, yet the bureaucracy is prioritizing its own legal comfort and "Cover Your Assets" culture over basic public transparency.

One person complaining won’t change an agency's culture, but a wave of constituent pressure will.

Please take 60 seconds tomorrow morning to call the ODH Director’s office and your local state legislators to demand that they restore regional weekly reporting and real-time early indicators:

• Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff (Director, Ohio Dept of Health): (614) 466-7217
• Your State Representative & Senator: Find them here by your ZIP/Address

What to tell them:
"My name is [Your Name] from ZIP [Your ZIP]. I am demanding that the Ohio Department of Health restore its weekly regional public health text reports. The current dashboard is non-functional for daily life and relies on cumulative hospitalizations, which are a lagging indicator providing zero actual warning. Hiding regional test positivity and outpatient data leaves vulnerable Ohioans blind during the winter surge. We deserve a functioning data pipeline."

Let’s force Columbus to stop hiding the math and give us our regional data back!

If Greg Levy actually cared about the things in his platform, he would have dropped out when the GOP dirty tricksters started using him to trick voters on the margins.