The March 17 primary election is about two months away.  Early voting starts February 19.  This primary election is important.  First, this primary is important because we are  choosing the Democratic candidate for President of the United States.

We know that Mitch McConnell will never allow the Senate to remove trump[1] from office.  We will have four more years of lies, corruption, and indefensible policies unless trump is defeated in the 2020 election.  I strongly suggest that you think about, and vote for, the Democratic candidate who has the best chance to beat trump in November.  I think that takes precedence over everything else at this point in our history.

The March primary is important for other reasons as well.  Most of our candidates are unopposed in their primaries.  However, one of our candidates needs more than one vote.  Every Democratic primary ballot throughout the County will have a box on it for the office of County Commissioner, term beginning January 2, 2021.  Inside that box, you will see a circle and a blank line.  It is vitally important that you do two things:

(1) darken-in that circle and (2) write the name Jeff Richards on the blank line.  Jeff needs at least 50 votes for his name to appear on the November general election ballot.  We can’t afford for this to be close.  We need Jeff to get many times the minimum vote required.  Given all that we have seen from the entrenched Republicans over the last year, I hope you understand why Jeff’s name must be on the November ballot for Commissioner.

Many parts of the County will also have school tax levies on the March ballot.  The Clermont County Democratic Party has not taken any position on these levies.  We all hate to see our taxes go up.  However, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled several years ago that the local property-tax based scheme which we use to fund public schools in Ohio violates the Ohio Constitution.

That Court decision remains on the books but the Republicans running state government have done nothing to comply with it.  Instead, under Governor Kasich, they cut state funds to schools and other local governments.  They’ve enabled charter schools like ECOT to pull money out of our public schools.  The answer to the problems Republicans created for public schools isn’t a deprecating “Well, they’d be fine if they’d just cut the fat.”  The immediate answer is to get our schools some more money.  The longer-term answer is to change who runs our State.  The children of Clermont County are depending on us.

The primary election is also when we elect our new Clermont County Democratic Party Central Committee.  The elected Central Committee chooses our Executive Committee which manages the Party.  The Central Committee is the primary point of contact between our Party and the voters of Clermont County.  If you filed for Central Committee: thank you.  Although you are running unopposed, you still need a vote.  Remember to vote for yourself.  Get your family and your friends in your precinct to pull a Democratic ballot and vote for you too.  It doesn’t matter if they’ve voted Republican, Green, Libertarian, or an issues-only ballot in the past.

Finally, remember that Ohio law allows anyone who is 17 but who will turn 18 before the November 3 general election to vote for candidates in the March primary.  Like the rest of us, those 17 year-olds must be registered to vote by February 18.  Please spread that information as widely as you can.

 

[1] I decline to capitalize any portion of trump’s name.  Using initial capital letters is a sign of respect and this man deserves no respect.