The voters have spoken. The election is over, and it is time to move forward. Whether your candidate won or lost, or you are happy are angry about issues, levies and bonds … look ahead not back. That is what makes our country great and helps sustain a thriving republic.
Voter turnout in Geauga and Cuyahoga counties was pretty much as expected. In other words, about half of registered voters went to the polls. In many countries, that is a shocking statistic. But is it normal here, especially for midterm elections. In Geauga County, there was a 62.6% turnout, or 42,556 voter ballots in a county with 67,924 registered voters. In Cuyahoga County, there was 46.1% voter turnout, with 404,940 ballots cast in a county with 878,590 registered voters.
It is a little disheartening, if we can just glance over our shoulders a tiny bit, that only half of Ohioans turned out to decide the crucial position of U.S. senator. Candidate J.D. Vance plaid-shirted his way to victory with 2,146,898 votes. Tim Ryan garnered 1,883,223 yeas. That is 4,031,121 votes in a state with 8,029,950 registered voters.
We would say “Do better, Ohio,” but again, that turnout is historically normal.
It is easy to say, “move forward,” but what does that mean in Ohio as a whole? Manufacturing is the largest of Ohio’s major sectors, based on GDP. Approximately 54 percent of the state’s manufacturing output consists of durable goods.
Ohio ranks 19th in the line of poorest states, with Utah being the poorest and New York enjoying the most wealth.
This summer, according to its website, the NFIB, the state’s leading small business association, completed a survey of small business owners from across the state of Ohio on economic issues. The results show entrepreneurs, while still struggling with issues of hiring and broken supply chains, are seeing inflation now as their largest threat. Almost half of Ohio small businesses find the issue most concerning to their business is inflation, however, a combination of these three economic challenges has caused eight out of ten to raise their prices, 40% raising them a significant 10% or more.
Ohioans have their work cut out for them. The economy, the supply chain, and of course battling inflation. But perhaps our biggest challenge is more ephemeral. We need to work together. We need to realize we have the same goal. Let’s use the end of what is always a divisive time — elections — as a fresh start.
We love this quote from founding father Benjamin Frank on voting and democratic rights.
“Since they are our right, let us be vigilant to preserve them uninfringed, and free from encroachments. If animosities arise, and we should be obliged to resort to party, let each of us range himself on the side which unfurls the ensigns of public good. Faction will then vanish, which, if not timely suppressed, may overturn the balance, the palladium of liberty, and crush us under its ruins.”
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