DELAWARE, Ohio — A result of issues centered on the map redistricting process, hundreds of voter turned out to the Delaware County Fairgrounds for the August special primary election with many planning to vote on the issues behind the candidates.
What You Need To Know
- The August special election is due to the redistricting issues legislators faced earlier this year
- Delaware County voters came to the polls to select a State Senator and State Central Committee Members
- Many were motivated by the Heartbeat Law and overall abortion access in the state
- Voter turnout in Delaware County was moderate
Delaware County had two election races, one for the State Central Committee and one for a state senator.
For many people, abortion was a major factor in voting.
“Understanding that people’s personhood is under attack to some degree is really scary to me and definitely a motivator for me being here today,” said Chelsea Caslow, a community activist and Delaware County voter.
Abortion rights have been a topic of debate since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Ohio quickly enacted a law that states a mother cannot get an abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Becky Alred said that she came to vote for legislators that would create more laws allocating resources to options outside of abortion.
“I adopted my son and adoption is a very hard thing to do and I feel like we should be more pro-adoption and stress all the other options rather than abortion,” said Alred.
Women’s rights were one of Melody McCue’s top priorities. She’s a doula in the central Ohio area and said she showed up on behalf of the mothers she serves.
“I do see abortion legislation really changing, how birthing women are cared for and so knowing that starting very small and influencing who represents us is really really important,” said McCue.
Turnout was moderate, and the average time to go through the voting process was five minutes.
Caslow said every election is important because of the domino effect it could have on our everyday lives.
“It’s more important sometimes than even big national elections, so i just always make a point to prioritize voting, especially on a smaller scale, so with it being weird this year I think it’s even more important to show up,” said Caslow. “By coming out and just familiarizing yourself with who’s on the ballot, what they stand for, that people can start to see that people could start to see eye to eye on a lot of these micro issues that would just make people’s lives just a lot better.”
