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2018 was a big election year in Ohio. Republicans held onto all five statewide executive offices including governor and super majorities in both the Ohio House and Senate. But there were a few bright spots for Democrats, among them the reelection of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and the election of two Democrats to the Ohio Supreme Court.With election 2018 over, the focus now shifts to governing. Stay connected with the latest on politics, policies and people making the decisions at all levels affecting your lives.

Ohio Faith Groups Are Organizing For This Fall's Election

photo of Pastor Michael Harrison
JO INGLES
/
OHIO PUBLIC RADIO

Groups around the state are starting to mobilize the people they hope will turn out this fall by organizing statewide voter-registration drives.

The Ohio Organizing Collaborative encompasses 20 organizations, including liberal-leaning churches. It's trying to get Ohioans to exercise their right to vote this fall. Pastor Michael Harrison is with the Union Baptist Church in Youngstown.

“What we’ve got to do is get into the hedges and highway to do what needs to be done. There’s at least 51 million, roughly 25 percent of the voting age of Americans, who haven’t even registered to vote. And so we’ve made it up in our mind that we’re going to get them out to vote.”

The Ohio Christian Alliance, which represents more conservative-leaning churches, will likely be active this election as well. The group sent out more than a half million voter guides to churches statewide last fall, urging voters to reject the marijuana legalization effort. They did. Two issues legalizing medical marijuana could be on the ballot this fall.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.