Ohio’s corrupt voter registration system must be reformed. The Dispatch got it right in an editorial that began by saying “Ohio lawmakers should take up Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s request to make voter registration automatic.”

Our current system, fueled by the former Secretary of State and hardline right-winger Ken Blackwell, was designed to target and eliminate core Democratic voters, particularly blacks and poor people. Former Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted perfected the art of de-registering Democratic voters. A 5-4 Supreme Court decision in the Husted v A. Philip Randolph Institute case last year upheld Husted’s undemocratic scheme – purging voters who hadn’t voted in the last few federal elections.

In the run-up to Ohio’s 2004 presidential election, the Free Press broke the story that 305,000 voters – primarily in the cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo – were stripped from the voting rolls. In the next four years prior to the 2008 presidential election, the Free Press acquired the names of 1.25 million voters kicked off the voting rolls. Between 2009 and 2012, the number reached 1.1 million.

Rev. Gary Witte calls out the ones responsible for the tax abatements that take money from the Columbus city schools. On April 24, approximately 400 Columbus school teachers marched to the headquarters of one of the local corporations that has received a "15-year, 100 percent property-tax abatement last year for a new $225 million office complex in downtown Columbus to be completed by 2024," according to ThisWeek newspaper. Holding a banner that stated "Cover My Students" they descended upon the firm CoverMyMeds to protest how that corporation will "avoid more than $50 million in property taxes thanks to the abatement it received from the city," reported WOSU Radio. The teachers' union says the abatements hurt the public educational system in Columbus because it relies on property taxes for funding. 

Last month, Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed controversial Senate Bill 23into law. The law, which bans abortion as soon as six-weeks into a pregnancy, is an almost total ban on the procedure, as many people do not even know that they are pregnant by six weeks. While the bill does include an exception in the case a pregnant person’s life is at risk, there are no exceptionsfor rape and incest included in the legislation.