Ohio Midterms: An Obie Field Guide for the Politically Exhausted

by Lottie Tristan, Contributor

Have you noticed that it’s ridiculously hard to register to vote this year? If not, shame on you, go register. Okay, now that you’ve gone through three hoops, two ID cards, your passport, your date of birth, your dog’s mother’s maiden name, your credit card and social security number, you called your mother, you called your dentist, now you’re allowed to fill out the five million candidate races that you forgot to look up while you were going through the ridiculous bureaucracy needed to access your most fundamental right.

For the sake of journalistic integrity, what you actually need to vote in Ohio if you want the chance to vote in a swing state this Midterm Election is:

• To register. If you moved dorms since last semester you need to re-register with your new street address. You need to do this by October 5th.

• ID - this can be either a current Ohio State ID or a U.S passport

• If you do not have a valid Ohio State ID you have to vote by mail

• To vote by mail you have to request an absentee ballot which you can do online at VoteOhio. gov

• You will need your Social Security Number as identification to vote by mail

Ohio Senate Bill 293 went into law last December. This was a key voter suppression law, and one of the main things that they tightened restrictions on was mail-in-ballots. Absentee ballot deadlines are now no longer accepted past the close of polls on Election Day. This means that no matter what time you send in your ballot, if it doesn’t arrive at the county board of elections before the polls close, your vote won’t count.

Ohio isn’t the only state cracking down on absentee ballots. At least nineteen states have enacted laws restricting mail-in-ballots since 2020, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. This is happening in the background of a federal landscape, wherein the Trump Administration has proposed not to deliver mail ballots in states that don’t turn over their voter rolls for mass verification. The Trump administration already said it would toss ballots that arrive after the deadline. Trump’s requirements would be virtually impossible for states to implement in time and (In an emergency ruling, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday September 14th to block the Trump Mail-In Ballot Restrictions) were several courts have ruled against it.

Almost a third of all voters vote by mail. Democrats vote by mail in higher numbers than Republicans. In conjunction with Ohio’s redistricting overwhelming in favor of republicans, this push from the GOP in Ohio and Nationally, is designed to disenfranchise voters, shifting the scales so that a widely unpopular regime can persist.

Despite Trump’s condemnation of voting by mail as “cheating”, the 80 year old despot is not above cheating himself. At a Republican Convention in Dallas, Trump promised to give every Adult American $5,000 if Republicans win the House and Senate. Federal laws prohibit expenditures to influence voting, but some legal scholars are already jumping to find constitutional minutiae to justify this brazen statement designed to sow discord and muddle election trust.

The GOP is clearly desperate this midterm cycle. For good reason. Trump’s approval, at the lowest level at any point in his presidency, threatens to drag the entire republican party with it. Efforts to curb voting rights, suppress ballots, and redistrict with political power in mind, leave many races neck and neck. I want to take this opportunity to dig into the candidates in each key Ohio race that will be on your ballot, to empower you to vote this cycle, because it’s really going to count.

Federal Race

Senate
The Senate Race is between Sherrod Brown (D) and Jon Husted (R). Sherrod Brown is a Yale graduate and received his masters from Ohio State. He is pro immigrant and backed the Ohio Constitutional Amendment defending reproductive rights. Jon Husted backs the SAVE Act and has supported increased funding for ICE agents and DHS. Jon Husted has received 11 million dollars from President Trump’s Super PAC, one of six Senate Races receiving funds that the party considers high-profile. Despite the political behemoth behind Jon Husted, polls show Sherrod Brown and Jon Husted as neck and neck with Brown pulling between 3 and 6 points ahead. Brown has a serious shot to win this and flipping the Senate blue could cripple the rest of Trump’s term, leaving him without the legislative firepower to go through with the rest of Project 2025. The one thing that could throw a wrench in the works is Greg Levy, a PSL socialist running as an independent against both Sherrod Brown and Jon Husted.

The sad reality is that Greg Levy is not a viable candidate. The most effective way to get elected as a socialist is to win the Democratic nomination. Levy is running as an independent. No independent candidate has ever won an Ohio Senate Seat. Until we reform our elections, voting with ranked choice or anything but First-Past-The-Post, to allow a viable alternative to the two-party system, Greg can’t win this one. Don’t throw your vote away for him.

House
Ohio’s 5th Congressional District pits Democratic challenger Brian Shaver against longtime Republican incumbent Bob Latta, who has represented the district since winning a 2007 special election. Latta is seeking an 11th term, while Shaver, president of Fostoria City Council and a high school social studies teacher, won a four-way Democratic primary in May with 28.68% of the vote. Through June 30, Latta’s campaign had raised about $1.46 million, compared with roughly $11,700 for Shaver.

Governor Election Race

Mike Dewine’s reign is finally over. We can all say a prayer of thanks. Unfortunately, Ohio is not out of the woods yet. Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, biotech entrepreneur, data center enthusiast, and former presidential candidate has spent at least 13.4 million dollars on ads and 700,000 on private jets for campaign events. Billionaires love him, are funding him, and want him to be the next Ohio governor, as he has promised to roll back property taxes, capital gains, and turn the Ohio river valley into a glorified well for data centers. His opponent, Amy Acton, the physician who ran Ohio’s health department under Gov. DeWine runs on a pro-union affordability agenda prioritizing health care, education, and energy costs. Acton has refused to debate Ramaswamy after vicious and unsupported attack ads from his campaign accusing her of drug and alcohol abuse.

So, there you have it: Ohio’s 2026 ballot. There are many more candidates on the ballot than I could cover in depth, but these are some of the most highly contested and important races on your ballot. I know that all of the complicated absentee rules, congressional redistricting, and millions of dollars in campaign spending make you want to just check out, but please, don’t. You do not have to love any candidate on this ballot and you do not have to trust either party. You do, however, have to pay attention. Check your registration. Check your address. Find your district. Look up the candidates. Figure out when and where you are voting. If you’re voting by mail, make sure to get that ballot in early enough that the Ohio election bureaucracy has time to perform its sacred ritual of moving a piece of paper from Point A to Point B before 7:30 p.m. on November 3. And then do your part. Vote.

One election won’t fix American politics. But you have to vote, because people are making decisions about your government whether you participate or not. The politicians will show up. The lobbyists will show up. The billionaires will show up. The PACs will show up. The people who already have power will show up. The least you can do is make them deal with you.

Ohio’s registration deadline is October 5. Election Day is November 3.