Ohio lawmakers have banned ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to select their candidates in order of preference. But two former lawmakers who backed that form of voting said a survey they conducted shows many Ohio voters feel their interests are not being represented by their elected officials.
Better Choices Ohio, chaired by Republican former Rep. Gene Krebs of rural Southwest Ohio and Democratic former Rep. Sean Logan of the Mahoning Valley conducted a study of 1,284 registered voters in June.
The survey found that over 82% think special interests have too much control over politics. Almost 72% don't think their member of the U.S. Congress represents them. And that includes 82% of unaffiliated or independent voters. Logan said that finding is a big problem, especially among younger voters.
“Of registered voters, 35 and under, 92% of those are unaffiliated," Logan said.
The executive director of the group Better Choices for Democracy said the June polling showed voters don't like the open partisan primary system that is currently in use in Ohio. Carah Ong Whaley said because of it, as well as redistricting, voters said they don't believe they have choices in candidates in November.
“General elections feel decided," Whaley said.
Krebs said these attitudes are leading voters to turn away from incumbents.
“This is a validation that people want change and they are not seeking it through the legislators," Krebs said.
The group intends to continue to poll voters about the political process in the months leading up to the November election.
Ranked choice voting was banned by Senate Bill 63, which took effect in June. No Republicans voted against it. And though the bill had a Democratic joint sponsor in Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus), only two Democrats in the House and one in the Senate voted for it. All other Democrats were opposed.
