Ohio: You Can Vote Now
Posted on October 11, 2023 Posted by John Scalzi 29 Comments
Early voting has begun in Ohio, so if you’re registered to vote in this November’s election, and you already know how you’re going to vote, why wait? I voted today (and was the 63rd person in my whole county to do so) because I still have quite a lot of travel to do between now and Election Day, and when it comes to voting my philosophy is never put off until tomorrow what you can vote on today. I could be eaten by a bear tomorrow! And if I am, my vote will still count. How cool is that.
Incidentally, here in Ohio, two issues are up for statewide ballot: Issue 1, which is the one that keeps busybodies out of other people’s uteruses, and Issue 2, which would generally legalizes marijuana use. I voted “yes” on both of these, Issue 1 because medical decisions should be between patient and doctor, not patient and doctor and a politician who thinks they have a special relationship with God, and Issue 2 because it’s stupid for marijuana to be illegal, for all sorts of reasons, and this is coming from someone who both does not partake in the stuff and who finds it frankly annoying as fuck. I am not looking forward to the general increase of stank that will result in the passage of Issue 2. But my irritation that Ohio will smell incrementally more like an unwashed armpit is a minor thing compared to the much larger societal harms that come from marijuana being illegal, so.
Obviously if you are voting in Ohio this election season, I urge you to vote as I did on these issues, and to study up on the local races and various levies that will be on the ballot as well. Please be an informed and active voter! Our state, and nation, thank you in advance.
I LOVE your reasons for voting on those two issues. Thank you for sharing them.
I really like Ohio’s “I Voted” sticker.
“Oh hi! I voted” is what it says to me
Also not surprisingly, I agree with your positions on both of those ballot measures
A reminder that, if you live in Virginia (State Motto: It’s always an election year, because of racism!), early voting has also begun. Every seat of the legislature is up for election along with a variety of local offices.
I am so with you on the marijuana thing. It should definitely be legal to use (though I have no desire to do so). I live in Illinois and am happy that it is available for recreational use.
On the other hand, I hate walking down the streets in Chicago because they all smell like marijuana now. It’s a small price to pay, I guess.
In case anyone’s curious: cannabis is legal in here in Canada. Here’s a CBC post on public health experts’ findings after the first 5 years:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cannabis-5-year-1.6989993
My sister who is a doctor – albeit also a Trumpist – has been beating the drums for quite a while now that people under the age of 25 should not have access to marijuana. Apparently, there is suggestive evidence that the active ingredients in the current version of marijuana can cause damage in developing brains.
She thinks the previous version which was not developed to give such a huge high would have been okay, but not now.
Oh, I should note: while I don’t partake, I don’t think it should be illegal. There are 3 weed shops within a 2 block radius of my home; they are discreet (by law they’re not allowed to display product to the public & all I ever notice is the occasional whiff of smoke if somebody’s smoking on the sidewalk.
Tastes vary. I don’t partake of marijuana, but I don’t find the smell anywhere near as objectionable as the noxious reek of tobacco.
Here in Kentucky we approved Medical Cannabis that will take affect in 2025. Seeing how many people here abuse opioids, I am hopeful that medical marijuana will cut into those numbers. Probably not enough to make us no longer be a “high drug trafficking” area but maybe. It being illegal seems to be more aimed at poorer communities and communities of color. As if that is a surprise.
Agree on both ballot votes, John.
TBH, I think we’re going to regret being so laissez-faire about cannabis/THC products but “illegal” is not a realistic or helpful way to deal with the potential problems of hyperpotent cannabis products being widely available.
Yay on voting.
I live in California, (greater LA), where smoking of any kind on the streets is very very rare. It’s Just Not Done, mostly, so we’re subjected to neither public cannabis nor tobacco, generally.
I use gummies on occasion for sleep, and even at the dispensary, nobody is smoking. So maybe it’s more a culture of drug use (yes, tobacco is a drug) on the street than MJ in specific that’s the problem. Local culture, y’know.
Now, I can’t speak to Mendocino county (cannabis central for many decades) behavior, as I haven’t been there in far too long, but in suburban LA, we can all get it, but we don’t do it in public.
I couldn’t agree with you more, almost word for word about the pot issue. I voted the same way in California and I’m sad to say, we have a lot more growers here some in my neighborhood stinking up our property with the stuff, but yes, I agree.
Excellent post. I hope others follow your lead.
We already voted a week or so ago in New York via absentee ballot. It’s mostly just judges on all lines so no choice, but we did get to vote to re-elect our local City Councilman, so did. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any ballot issues that would make you want to go to the polls, just take a nap. But we voted.
Crossing fingers and hoping the anti-abortionist ballot box argument of “think of the babies, not the smelly women” falls spectacularly flat on its face.
I like to vote in person on The Day – my first ballot ever had to be absentee (I was in the Gulf of Tonkin at the time,) so doing it live is a treat for me.
But I’ll be voting in Franklin county just the way you did, pretty much for the reasons you gave.
Ahhhhhhh, I see this is a different issue 1 than the one in August mean to derail this issue 1 and thankfully failed terribly.
Good luck with your election! And yah, wow, has the legalization of pot made the world stankier…
From your north-neighboring state, I can assure you that legal weed has not upped the stank quotient appreciably in our small college town. And my students don’t seem to be any spacier than they’ve always been. But we have seen a sharp rise in the number of fast-food outlets in the last year or so, which is either a plus or minus depending on personal tastes.
Seattlite here. If we are any indication, it will skyrocket and then trickle down once the newness wears off. Meanwhile, I have remarked on more than one occasion, “Dude, it’s legal now. You don’t have to buy skunk anymore.”
I wonder if the reproductive/cannabis crossover will see an uptick in voting there. Part of Washington’s success is that cannabis was on the same ballot as marriage equality. The Venn overlap between those two is almost a circle.
Regarding legalizing marijuana .. I have family member with a serious debilitating condition for which many doctors and specialists have been unable to solve or even effectively treat the symptoms. Medical marijuana … recently legalized in Ohio .. is the only effective treatment. It is a reliable treatment for the symptom’s. I’ve learned that there are many many strains or parts of the plants that have various traits and impact on people. Apparently this is not your grandfathers weed of the ’60’s!
Honestly, while the stank increase in California after legalization was noticeable at first, it quickly subsided to pre-legalization levels. I can’t remember smelling it after that first year. Most people seem to prefer gummies.
With Daniel, I’m also a Seattleite. I have also noticed that the number of shops opening and tax revenues have stabilized as well.
I quit smoking tobacco in 2007 and don’t plan on smoking ANYTHING ever again but I’m intrigued with gummies as a soft pain med that won’t eat my stomach lining like Ibuprophen or Tylenol would. The years and earlier injuries from college football are making themselves heard in various ways.
YaBut, If they make Marijuana legal, how will they meet their contracted quotas of non-violent slaves for the for-profit prisons?
They should make all recreational drugs legal and treat the addictions as medical issues. But that would take the profits out of the illegal drug trade. We can’t have that.
Yes, I totally agree with your positions.
I agree. Tobacco and marijuana smoke both exacerbate my asthma, and I’d be personally happier if I didn’t have to deal with so much of that, but whether or not it’s legal doesn’t change that amount very much. And criminalizing marijuana causes way too many other issues. If the drug policy ends with this many people (especially non-white people) incarcerated for “possession,” then the policy is garbage.
Our vote here was distinctly low significance. Our village is voting on a “neighbourhood plan” for the developers and district council to ignore.
Definitely vote early if you can!
Last year my dad passed away in late October, and I was still stuck in Phoenix dealing with things when the election came and went. It was the first election that I missed in 40 years of voting.
I was not pleased, but obviously these things can happen.
Eaten by a bear before voting? Are you still in that blood feud?
Thanks, Scalzi
With you all the way.