Politics & Government

The governor has used his line-item-veto pen to strike a provision that Democrats claimed would discourage out-of-state college students from voting in Ohio.

Officials in Dayton are aiming to capitalize on backlash against a religious-objections law in neighboring Indiana that critics say could permit discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Bexley City Council will consider a discrimination ordinance that would include members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The move follows a lesbian couple who spoke out about a local wedding photographer who declined their business due to their their sexual orientation.

Bexley City Councilwoman Deneese Owen will head up the committee that will draft a proposed discrimination ordinance.

Early voting begins next week for the May primary.Columbus voters will decide candidates for mayor, council and board of education.

Franklin County Board of elections spokesman Ben Piscatelli, says a four way race for mayor will drive turn-out on May 5th.

Former President Bill Clinton is endorsing former Ohio governor Ted Strickland’s U.S. Senate bid.

Strickland has long ties with the Clintons and was a leading backer of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s successful 2008 Ohio presidential primary effort.

But the early endorsement comes with 30-year-old Cincinnati councilman P.G. Sittenfeld also seeking the Democratic nomination in a primary more than a year away.

Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is seeking re-election.

A new independent poll says Ohio voters favor Hillary Clinton over other likely presidential candidates.

The swing state poll by Quinnipiac University says 46 percent of Ohio voters like the Democratic Clinton better than all other candidates. Her closest completion was Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky at 41 percent.

  A federal judge says ballot access limits imposed last year on minor parties in political battleground Ohio don’t violate the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson’s decision Monday is the latest blow to challengers of a 2013 law that set new, stiffer criteria for minor political parties to qualify for and maintain access to Ohio’s ballot.

Watson said a side party in the case, the American Civil Liberties Union, couldn’t demonstrate that denying access to primary ballots poses a severe burden on third parties without “compelling state interest.”

A marijuana legalization effort in Ohio has cleared a key governmental hurdle.

Attorney General Mike DeWine on Friday certified ResponsibleOhio’s petition for the proposed amendment and cleared summary petition language as fair and truthful. The measure goes next to the Ohio Ballot Board.

ResponsibleOhio foresees getting the amendment before voters this year or next. It would legalize the sale of marijuana for medicinal and recreational use and create authorized growing sites across the state.

Secretary of State Jon Husted has said several times that voter fraud is rare but it exists – and that’s why he says he reviews the voting rolls. Hustged says he’s found hundreds who should not be registered to vote, and he wants the federal government to help him find more.

This new review found 145 non-citizens registered to vote, and 27 of them actually cast ballots. This brings the total number of non-citizens registered to vote in Ohio to 436, out of 7.7 million registered voters. Husted says these are felonies, but likely are mistakes – but they need to be caught.

Ohio’s Rob Portman is one of 47 GOP senators who signed an unprecedented letter to Iran this week. And Ohio’s Democratic senator says he’s flabbergasted.

Ohio’s elections chief plans to discuss potential illegal voting activity in the perennial swing state along with his efforts to keep updated voter rolls.

In about two weeks red light cameras, in Columbus, will be turned off…at least for now.