My Sample Ballot (November 7, 2017 General Election)

So my wife and I early voted on Friday and I figured I’d do one of these in case it might be helpful to someone. There are also some relatively arcane and confusing things on this ballot that I thought might benefit from being explained in this straightforward way. Bear in mind I live in Lakewood so I was able to vote on the Cuyahoga County wide bond issues etc. and the Lakewood City Council at-Large as well as the Lakewood City Charter issue and the two statewide ballot issues but not any Cleveland specific issue. I thought about doing recommendations on those as well but decided against it because for one thing the Cleveland Mayoral race has become so dispiriting it’s impossible to come up with a positive recommendation and also because I don’t think it carries the same force if I recommend voting for something that I’m personally not in the right jurisdiction to vote for. So anyway:

Issue 1: the “Marcy’s Law”/victim’s “bill of rights”- Voted NO

I admittedly didn’t do a lot of research into this but I’m strongly against these types of laws. There’s no need for them. The criminal justice system is already too skewed in favor of crime victims and against the accused, unless the accused is a cop of course. On a slightly more detailed level the stuff this law asks for is against the state constitution and will be struck down on appeal if any Prosecutor tries to use it anyway.

Issue 2: state Issue concerning prescription drug prices — Voted YES

Way too many pixels and too many words, most of them dishonest, have been spilled on this so I’ll try to keep it simple. This is simply a way for the state of Ohio to get back as much as 400 million dollars from the prescription drug companies and put it back in the public coffers. This will be passed on in the form of significantly lower drug prices for a lot of people. No not everyone! (not me for instance) But hey maybe the rest of us will get the idea that we can collectively bargain with the pharmaceutical companies for lower prices. This is a reform, not a revolution, but it’s a needed and important reform.

Lakewood Charter Revision: I voted YES (forgot number)

This was a weird one and I admit that I’m only going by the word of people I respect and not first hand research. And I’m a little unhappy with how this was handled. Apparently another one of those quasi-secret “committees” was formed and they’ve been on revising Lakewood’s City Charter for a few years. Why does it need to be revised? I’ve never gotten a clear answer. As far as I can tell there are no significant issues at stake. The terms of the elected officials aren’t being changed. We’re not moving from a Mayor to a City Manager etc. The nearest to a justification I’ve heard is some vague need to “modernize.” To be fair copies of the revised charter were mailed to every Lakewood resident. But there was no way of comparing the new one to the old one, even if one had the time or inclination to do so.

So I somewhat reluctantly voted “Yes” on this solely because people I respect and like such as Andy Meyer and Donna Kolis worked on it and other people I like and respect such as Tristan Rader say that the changes are fine. Apparently people from a variety of viewpoints were involved. And even those extremely opposed to Mayor Summers and his handling of the Lakewood Hospital issue were satisfied that no chicanery is involved. It seems like the changes are anodyne and uncontroversial but I still find it weird that this was rolled out so close to the election. I also don’t know what the consequences will be if there is a “No” vote. Will that mean Lakewood will have an “out of date” Charter? Would that create some real problem? No one has really explained.

Lakewood City Countil (at-Large): voted for Tristan Rader (only)

So it’s a no-brainer that I voted for Tristan, whom I consider a friend and comrade. And I’ve already written a pretty well received letter to the editor supporting him. So I’ll use my space here to talk about voting in a race where you can vote for up to three people out of six. Others disagree, but I strongly believe that if you strongly support one candidate you should vote only for that candidate. This can seem counter-intuitive. After all, why not use your other votes to put slightly preferable (or lesser of two evil) candidates in the second and third spots. However, these types of races are decided by very few votes in Lakewood so it can be dangerous to add votes to anyone other than your preferred candidate. For instance if you really want Tristan but also vote for another candidate and then that candidate beats Tristan for the third slot by one vote, well, you see what I’m getting at here.

Please note that this isn’t any kind of official stance from Tristan’s campaign. I’m merely explaining why I voted for one person as opposed to two or three.

Issue 59: Port Levy Renewal: Voted YES

I really helped the Port Authority out with this one because I saw zero advertising or communication about this one but I still voted Yes because c’mon we need to have a port! I love ports! A real city has to have a port! Please no one say cities that don’t have ports. They don’t count. I’m sure the port does way more economically for this city than Amazon or Dan Gilbert.

Issue 61: Tri C Bond Issue: Voted YES

As a member of the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus Steering Committee I voted to endorse this so of course I voted yes. It’s not perfect. Some of the money is going to some kind of state-of-the-art cops practice shooting people facility. But Tri-C is important. It’s important more people learn trades etc. which in this part of the country is a more realistic path forward than getting a useless and expensive Bachelor’s degree for jobs that don’t exist.