Groups around the state are starting to mobilize the people they hope will turn out this fall by organizing statewide voter registration drives.
The Ohio Organizing Collaborative, which includes 20 organizations, including liberal leaning churches, is trying to get Ohioans to exercise their right to vote this fall. Pastor Michael Harrison is with the Union Baptist Church in Youngstown.
“What we’ve got to do is get into the hedges and highway to do what needs to be done. There’s at least 51 million, roughly 25% of the voting age of Americans, who haven’t even registered to vote. And so we’ve made it up in our mind that we’re going to get them out to vote.”
The Ohio Christian Alliance, which represents more conservative leaning churches, will likely be active this election as well. The group sent out more than a half million voter guides to churches statewide last fall, urging voters to reject the marijuana legalization effort. They did. Two issues legalizing medical marijuana could be on the ballot this fall.