These are photos of public sector and private sector union members and others here in northwest Ohio who have worked really hard the last however many months to put a citizen veto of Issue Two on the ballot.
Issue Two is a ballot referendum on former Fox News personality John Kasich’s union busting law, SB 5. Today, you want to Vote No On Two.
The idea sounded absolutely crazy to me when I went to their first meeting, and I never thought we’d get this far. It’s been a pleasure following their lead and working with and for them. They earned this. They did all the work. Now all Democrats and allies like us have to do is turn out and vote.
I’m doing GOTV today, so if I call you be nice. On election day 2010, I was given a name and a number for an older lady who said she needed a ride to the polling place. I called her, and she told me she wasn’t ready to vote just yet, so could I call her back later. I was so surprised that I agreed:”sure, when might be good for you?” That very funny request at 11 AM on election day turned out to be the highlight of the 2010 election for me. I believe this one may go a little better, but it won’t if we don’t vote.
dmsilev
Good luck, and thank you for all the work you have put into this campaign.
artem1s
I was the 8th person in my precinct to ruin King John’s day this morning.
Hope all the hard work pans out! Thanks for all your updates Kay!
shortstop
Damn it, dmsilev posted exactly what I was going to! Thanks, kay!
Amir Khalid
I was a union member myself, in my journalist days. Good luck with the repeal vote, Saudari Kay.
(Saudari: feminine of saudara, a courtesy title often used among trade union members in Malaysia)
Carnacki
Best of luck!
Mr. Glue
Cast my NO vote this morning, and boy it felt good. I’m pretty sure I even convinced my lazy, disinterested roommate to 1) actually vote 2)vote no on 2.
JPL
Kay, I want to express my thanks also, for all your hard work. Hopefully the bill is repealed and the media calls the repubs on their overreach.
SiubhanDuinne
All I can do is echo the commenters who got in before I did. Thank you, Kay, for all the work you’ve done and for your clear, eloquent, and impassioned posts.
Exurban Mom
Thanks for everything, Kay. If all goes well, Issues 2 and 3 go down in flames, and I get elected to my local school board. I voted early last week, so fingers crossed, trying to convince everyone I know to get out and vote today.
Kay
@Exurban Mom:
Good for you. We talked a (liberal) engineer here into running for school board, he won, and he tells me he blames me every time he sees me. It’s a difficult job. He hasn’t quit yet, though, and he has since been re-elected.
Our pitch was “he’s good at math”. Really. That was the whole thing. He won easily.
He’s on with the creationists and book-banners and the “run schools like a business!” gang, poor thing.
Wag
Solidarity!
geg6
kay, you and the people of OH are my heroes today. Truly heroic.
That said, I love voting in a small town. It’s a social event and John, being a native of our township, will have a hard time getting out of our polling place because he knows everybody. We’re going walk over to vote together (at the firehall next door to our house!) and then they have a nice spaghetti dinner at the VFW for election day. Such a cliche of Americana, but I love it.
Johannes
Brava, Kay!
kay
@geg6:
I vote early now. I’m always telling other people to vote early, haranguing might be a better word, so I feel as if I have to. They might get hit by a bus, geg6. That could happen :)
I agree with you, though. Voting in person is great.
amk
Good luck. Here’s to all your hard work succeeding today.
geg6
@kay:
Before I moved in with John, I always voted early. I knew most of the people at the poll there but it wasn’t the event that they make it in my new town. But he leaves in the morning before the polls open and he really, really wants us to go together this first time for me voting here. Probably so he can introduce me to all his old high school friends and his former students (he used to teach history, government and driver’s ed at the local high school he attended and also coached football and cross country). I admit to being charmed by the whole idea.
ScottH
I voted in Cincinnati this am. No real lines, no overly pushing electioneering outside the polling area. I actually met one of the candidates for Cincinnati City Council — a very young very earnest fellow — who was shaking hands in the parking lot. He was gone when I was done voting, hopefully to a more crowded spot.
I like voting in person, watching my ballot go thru the optical scanner and seeing the computer say “your vote has been cast”.
Good luck Kay and thanks for all you do.
cintibud
Voted today. Down with 2 and 3. A lot of other interesting local (Cincinnati) races as well.
bjacques
Congrats, Kay. We here in a foreign-speaking land are closely watching this.
harlana
Great job, Ohioans (sp?)! You make me proud to be an American!
HRA
My wish for you, Kay, is to see all your hard work be justly rewarded today. Thank you for keeping us up to date on the issues. I have never ever seen it done better.
Humanities Grad
For what it’s worth, the weather in Ohio seems to be cooperating today. Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm (highs here in northwest Ohio are supposed to be in the upper 60s today).
I voted last week, but my spouse was off to cast her vote this morning. So we’ll put at least 2 more in the “no” column.
I’m in a relatively small town–very red area. But there are far more “No on 2” signs in the community than there are “Yes on 2” signs, and they’ve been there longer. A handful of “Yes” signs appeared overnight, but before that I’d only seen 1 in town during the past several weeks.
amk
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/11/8/83146/7228
cintibud
@Humanities Grad: The Cincinnati area is very red yet I don’t know if I’ve seen a single yard sign for Yes on 2 and don’t recall any “Yes” billboards (I’m not terribly observant). Just a bunch of TV commercials and even then not as many as I thought there would be after hearing about the money being dumped into the “Yes” campaign.
2 will go down in flames!
Nemesis
Voted absentee NO on Issues 1,2 and 3.
shortstop
Nothing feels as good as voting in person. The times I’ve had to vote absentee, I’ve felt a curious sense of anticlimax.
A few years back, the NYT had a fantastic photo essay showing people voting across the nation. I remember a shot from Hawaii of bare legs and flip-flops under the booths, and one from rural Louisiana showing people voting in someone’s single-car garage. The whole thing was quite moving; seeing the sometimes really odd places people gather to cast their ballots really drives home that it’s the gorgeously simple and fundamental act of voting, not the ponderous institutions associated with it, that matters. I can’t find those photos now, but there is this.
one two seven
Voted today in Akron where there is no visible support for issue 2. Parking lot was full, but no lines. Everyone seemed upbeat…I like the momentum this is causing. Hopefully the turnout causes 1 & 3 to go down as well.
Mr Stagger Lee
Go Buckeyes,Bearcats,Golden Flashes,Falcons,Flyers,Bobcats,Rockets,Red Hawks,Penquins and Zips! NO ON 2!
donnah
Thanks for your hard work, Kay. I’m an Ohioan who voted by mail-in ballot, as the last time I used an infamous Diebold machine, the printed readout was jammed and when I complained to the poll workers, they shrugged me off. I never trusted them again.
I will be waiting anxiously for the results. The weather here in SW Ohio is beautiful today, so there are no excuses not to go vote.
slag
Every time you use John Kasich’s proper title, I smile inside.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Thank you Kay. For all of it.
ABL
Thanks for keeping us informed on this Kay. You rock.
singfoom
Thanks for all of your hard work Kay. Is there a good place for those of us not in Ohio to catch the results? When do polls close tonight?
SteveinSC
Go Ohio! Vote No on Two! The Southern Left Wing (both of us) salute you! On to Wisconsin! Scott Walker, you flaming asshole, are next.
Ohio Mom
@cintibud: oh, I saw a couple of Yes on 2 billboards but that was in Milford. Mostly though I have been heartened by all the No on 2 yard signs in my red, red, red neighborhood of Blue Ash (disclaimer: we only live here because this is a good school district for special needs. I count the years until graduation).