COLUMBUS – Preparations are already underway for the second half of Ohio’s split primary.
Election workers have begun mailing absentee ballots to military members and other overseas voters for the state’s Aug. 2 special election, which will decide Republican and Democratic nominees for state legislative races.
The deadline to register to vote is July 5 and early voting begins on July 6.
A primary election held on May 3 determined candidates for congressional seats and statewide offices, including governor.
The move comes even as the Ohio Supreme Court considers a case from candidates from both parties trying to get onto the ballot by challenging the February filing deadline.
Meanwhile, state leaders are continuing to spar over whether the court should force the state’s Republican-dominated political mapmaking panel to answer for defying a court order to redraw unconstitutional Statehouse maps.
Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state’s elections chief, told justices Friday that a federal court subsequently ordered him to impose the invalidated map for the August primary, so it’s too late for this cycle to draw new maps that meet Ohio’s constitution.
Democratic commissioners said Republicans should not be allowed to break the law without consequences or they will continue to “do what they want.”