There is an election Tuesday, and it is unlike most elections in odd-numbered years.
Millions of people inside and outside of Ohio and Kentucky will be watching what happens very closely.
Ohio has its own version of an abortion rights constitutional amendment on the ballot, and political observers across the spectrum will be anxious to see if Ohio becomes the seventh state since Roe v. Wade was overturned to vote in favor of abortion access.
They'll be watching, too, to see if the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a deeply red state, will re-elect its Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, over the Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron.
Throughout Ohio, there are plenty of reasons to go to polls on Tuesday. In fact, Ohio voters have been voting by mail and in person in large numbers since Oct. 12, when the state's early voting period began.
If you haven't voted, you should. Your voice is important.
RELATED: Everything you need to vote in Ohio and Kentucky
Here are some a few of the high-profile ballot issues and candidate races that are drawing voters' attention this year:
Ohio's turn at reproductive rights
Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June 2022, six states — Michigan, Kentucky, California, Montana, Kansas, and Vermont — have voted in favor of abortion rights in statewide elections.
Red states. Blue states. It doesn't matter. They have all supported abortion rights. And Ohio could be on the verge of becoming the seventh.
That's why both sides in one of the most contentious issues in American politics in the past 50 years are paying so much attention to Ohio.
That translates to money — millions upon millions — being raised here in Ohio and pouring in from out of state. In fact, $67 million since March — about $40 million on the abortion rights side. Anti-abortion rights groups at the national, state and local levels are raising the opposition money, along with the Catholic Church in Ohio. The archdiocese of Cincinnati has kicked in $500,000.
People ask me all the time how the church, with its tax-exempt status, can spend money on what amounts to a political campaign. The answer is simple: federal tax laws allow it for issue campaigns, but not candidate campaigns.
Legalizing recreational marijuana
Ohio's Issue 2 is a legislative petition initiative, not a constitutional amendment as is the case with Issue 1.
If it is approved by voters, the Ohio legislature could tinker with it — or refuse to act on it — before it goes into effect.
It would set an amount of recreational marijuana that individuals could possess. A tax on such pot would go into state coffers and is said to generate a huge new revenue source for state government. Proponents say it could produce hundreds of millions of dollars for the state.
It's been a very quiet campaign, unlike 2015 when a ballot measure proposed by a private investors group that wanted to profit from the sale of marijuana spent $20 million and failed to convince Ohio voters.
This is more of a grassroots campaign. The Ohio Republican Party opposes it; the Ohio Democratic Party has taken no position.
Michigan could be the big loser if Issue 2 passes.
Recreational use of marijuana has been legal in Michigan since 2018. Since then, there's been a steady flow of Ohio residents streaming into Michigan to buy their pot.
But that could end soon.
The fate of Cincinnati's city-owned railway
For 143 years, the city has owned a 337-mile railroad line that runs from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tenn.
If Issue 22 passes, the city of Cincinnati could be out of the railroad business very soon.
That money would be deposited into a trust overseen by the railroad board, which would disburse no less than $26.5 million a year to the city to fix or replace city streets, bridges, buildings and other public spaces.
Norfolk Southern already leases the rail line for $25 million a year. Proponents of the issue say it will produce more than that for the city each year if the sale goes through.
The opposition doesn't believe that, saying it is foolish to give up a city asset for what they consider to be a pig-in-a-poke.
RELATED: 34 questions (and counting) about the Cincinnati Southern Railway sale, answered
The proponents have raised $4.25 million to spend on the campaign. You've all seen the TV ads and probably found a number of slick mail pieces in your mailbox at home, if you live in the city.
Every dime of that money has been contributed by Norfolk Southern. The opposition committee, on the other hand, had raised just under $5,000, according to its pre-election campaign finance report. They're depending mostly on yard signs and social media to get the word out.
In the end, Issue 22 boils down to this: voters who trust the city to do what it says it will with the proceeds and those who don't trust the city to make good on the promises.
An itty-bitty City Council race
A lot of people in Cincinnati have been scratching their heads over why there are only 10 candidates running for nine seats on City Council this year.
Cincinnati voters are used to seeing long lists of candidates on their ballots, often two dozen or more.
Two years ago, the council race included a record 35 candidates on the ballot.
And that explains, in large part, why there are so few this year.
Here's what happened:
In 2021, many voters looked at this mammoth list of candidates and basically threw up their hands. Who has time to research 35 candidates in order to make intelligent decisions?
Only those with way too much time on their hands.
Cincinnati is a heavily Democratic city. Bluest of the blue. So, when Democratic voters received the party's slate card of endorsed candidates, either in the mail, online or at their polling places, they simply voted a straight party ticket.
The result? A city council made up of eight Democrats and one Republican, Liz Keating.
The power of the slate card in full bloom.
RELATED: Meet the 10 candidates running for 9 seats on Cincinnati City Council
Not many potential candidates would dare challenge the power of the slate card. The Republican Party has only one candidate this year — Keating. The Charter Committee has cross-endorsed Keating. Charter has no other candidates.
That leaves Anna Albi, a 31-year-old Democrat from Madisonville, as the only non-incumbent running this year. Albi, an outspoken proponent of gun violence prevention, has her party's endorsement. She'll be on that slate card.
So, you tell me, what incentive is there now for other candidates to run?
Thus, a 10-candidate field.
Get used to small council fields until the present folks are term-limited out.
