Welcome to Columbus on the record.

I am filling in for something.

Early voting in the special election has been surprisingly strong around the state.

Resulting in long lines in double-digit wait times.

it's been, what 16,000 wind -- compared to 45,000 that did so in the first nine days of early voting in May, 2022.

There is only one issue on the ballot, she wanted.

It'll make it harder to amend the Constitution, requiring 60% support rather than the simple majority.

In terms of early voting, what are we seeing out there?

>> As reporter who cover statewide politics, the disproportionate amount of voting, especially in person and mail ballot requests are up there as well.

It's been a problem for Democrats, turnout in general has not been what they wanted it to be for statewide success.

Up there with the abortion- rights amendment we are It is a sign that the opposition is enthusiastic.

The question is whether or not more people are going to vote.

>> Speaking of which, we have --.

>> Early voting exceeds expectations.

For issue one.

Welcome to Columbus on the record.

I am Matthew Rand, filling in for Mike Thompson.

Early voting in the August 8 special election has been surprisingly strong around the state, resulting in long lines and double-digit wait times.

To give you an idea of just how strong turnout has been, about 116,000 Ohioans have been voting in person so far.

Compared to nearly 45,000 that did so in the first nine days of early voting in May 2022.

There is only one issue on the The measure would make it harder to amend the the state constitution, requiring 60% voter turnout rather than a simple majority.

In terms of early voting, what we think out there?

>> Is somebody who cover statewide politics, the disproportionate amount of voting taking place in that county, in person and mail ballot requests are up there, too.

Turnout has been a problem in general for Democrats.

Kind of given the coalition for and against the issue on the organizing going up there with the abortion-rights amendment we expect November.

It is a sign that the opposition issue is enthusiastic.

The question is whether or not more people will both.

That remains to be seen.

>> Speaking of which, we had news about the abortion measure.

measure as well.

Give us the latest there.

>> The county board election on Thursday verified whether or not the signatures they had and what the number was.

Coming in on counties around the states.

What we saw in our region, the number of signatures that the abortion-rights amendment campaign submitted approved at a rate sufficient for them to qualify, repeated around the state.

The marijuana campaign is more dicey.

That is going to be more of a problem.

If they qualify, they will have another 10 days together additional signatures.

>> I didn't get started, Matthew.

I want to recap that the reason the General assembly did this is because, remember in December.

The assembly said, no more August elections.

Because cities and school districts were using these elections and low turnout in order to be able to get past Cut taxes and support for the schools.

Perhaps they did not agree with.

They said, no, nevermind!

Traditionally, we have low turnout, let's propose this change to the constitutional amendment in order to prevent the next constitutional amendment.

On choice.

And so, will it work?

It doesn't look like it's working.

>> Republicans typically not fond of early voters.

Preferring to vote in person on election day.

What is changing this time around?

With this issue one effort?

emotion.

And a word of caution to my fellow Republicans.

>> When I first arrived in the assembly in 1982, I was told the first thing I need to know how to do is count.

Get the majority in your committee and the 50 on the floor of the house.

Secondly, I was told not to ask questions of the public unless you are certain what the answer is.

This case, they asked a question of the public without any idea what the answer would be.

I look at it and I go, you made a grave mistake here.

I said on the show before, it is going to shorten dramatically the careers of many Republicans that are currently serving.

We've seen big turnout in the city centers.

I saw you were in Delaware County, What idiocy?

To full disclosure, Delaware counties where I live.

>> You can't campaign within a certain state of the entrance.

They were serving root beer floats and encouraging people to come up and ask questions about issue one.

It was the first yes on the issue one sign seen in Delaware County, which is totally anecdotal.

But it's interesting to me because Delaware is a purple Lane County.

We have Straits Republican representation.

We see the know, guess sign.

I don't know if it is reading too much.

It is an indication this is going to go down overwhelmingly.

>> We could learn something from this.

A new USA Today poll released Thursday found 57% of voters oppose the issue, including some Republicans as well as opponents of abortion.

We see it heading?

>> Piggybacking on what she had said, 57% of people in Ohio seem to oppose this amendment.

Only 26% would vote yes.

About 17%, 16% or 17%, are undecided.

When Jean said, don't ask a question --unless you know the answer will be, they had a pretty good idea what the answer would be.

The experiment had to do with the environment in the summer as to whether people would be attentive and turnout.

Looks like they are turning out.

>> There was an issue with applications for absentee ballots.

We will talk more in a moment.

Criticized for allowing the applications while denying others.

What happened?

>> It is hard to explain distinctly.

A new law went into effect, he did not have to use specific forms, make sure you provided required information.

appears on a standard state and mandated form.

Local newspapers in the Cleveland area printed an application in the paper.

As far as I can tell, they developed on their own and designed it themselves.

Under this law, you cannot do that.

The campaign sent a form that was state-mandated but also six years old.

It had information on there if a voter followed to the letter would see their application get rejected.

But they said, because it was a state issued form, it was okay as long as they provided required information.

People were suspicious about one group not being allowed in the sympathetic to allowing it to be accepted.

I think they were following the rules.

>> It wasn't really a matter of He would run for higher office, but when, in a widely expected move, LaRose announced he was running for U.S. Senate.

The GOP challengers, -- and -- hope to unseat longtime Democratic incumbent, Sharon Brown.

Gene Krebs, why announce it now, with an election two weeks away?

>> He's trying to carve out his lane.

He is a business management or out of Cleveland.

And Matt Toland, part of the famous Da Lin family out of Cleveland.

He needs to quickly get some steam of the reason is, it is because a very badly kept secret that he will get the Trump endorsement.

And, if it happens, like most expected to happen, for a variety of reasons I will not go into here.

That immediately restricts We all like Frank.

We all really like Frank.

But we don't see how he can survive in a campaign put on by two gentlemen who can write out a check for millions of dollars and not suffer any financial consequences for this.

We don't see it.

He has no choice but to announce now.

Does it answer your question?

>> It does so.

>> I believe the game changer would be, and I'm not suggesting it would happen.

If Trump were to endorse LaRose, the question is, what would that happen?

From a public standpoint, there is nothing wrong with him.

But if and when Trump endorses Marino?

>> Trump said, I love Ohio and I love Bernie Marino.

Go back in time, when he was running for the U.S. Senate, he dropped out.

And endorsed --.

And everybody wrongly believes there was a player to be named later.

The type of trade going on.

Trump endorsements, notwithstanding --Andrew, he did analysis on the issue, issue one.

Which, LaRose is running really closely on.

And how this could affect his candidacy.

What did you find?

>> To keep in mind, Frank LaRose was an editorial board meeting with my publication and floated issue one.

I don't think anybody was talking about at the time.

It became something states were considering in the aftermath of Roe V Wade being overturned.

But, essentially, LaRose guaranteed he is throwing himself in the middle of controversial issues.

Sometimes politicians try to avoid them because there is risk involved.

But maybe, we are talking about LaRose having Glen Mason problems.

Making the rounds pushing it.

To develop a donor base.

On the other hand, he's become the face of the opposition campaign.

And attack after naming Frank LaRose.

I'm not surprised that we will see people blaming him for issues going down, money wasted, those sorts of things.

If he makes it through, people, what will they know about him.

They may be associated negatively with this.

It may not play out that way, but it is risky for him to throw himself into the conversation.

>> Anna, University polls released Tuesday.

This one found that he may do better than other GOP candidates because --is against incumbents.

Get down.

>> The margin of error on this is higher than the rest of the pole, Seven Points, which is huge when it comes to polling.

More people know who Frank LaRose is.

He's been around in politics longer.

It is possible he is familiar and more standardized and people think he could do better perhaps against Senator Sharon Brown.

What's most interesting about that is that showed Marino doing the worst.

It was Marino, then Da Lin, then LaRose.

He doesn't like to pick somebody who will lose.

If we continue to move forward, LaRose could be Brown, I wonder if it'll change the former presidents mine --mine.

To it is the different political situation with incumbents.

>> What are his chances this time around?

>> Is not a strong perhaps in previous races.

I think he is strong and he is polling strong.

Anna, I disagree with you.

I think Trump chooses a candidate he himself likes the best.

Usually because they say nice things about them.

We might see the same thing happen again with respect Marino.

>> We will see what the former president has to say about this race.

Starting in October, all Ohio schoolchildren will be eligible for private school vouchers.

Many, especially in rural areas, will not be able to exercise that choice.

Anna Staver.

You look into this.

What are the students facing, rural, versus the urban areas?

>> We put the universal voucher and.

Every kid now can get some amount of the voucher.

It decreases as you run the money.

There are no private schools and charter schools.

Representative Jay Edwards who covers part of it, said to me, school choices choosing to go to the other public high school because they have a better sports team.

This choice doesn't exist in some parts of the state.

This is racy pushback from some Republicans, particularly on the voucher.

Jay Edwards, John Croft, some of the Ohioans were instrumental in the budget and pushing fully funding the public school formula.

If we would do universal voucher, the vouchers don't change in the district.

Why provide vouchers remake the accommodations for all students if there are no spaces to accommodate all the students?

>> This is exactly what happened.

Oklahoma, another state with us swatches of rural area.

Universal vouchers died for that simple reason.

It is not practical to have too many --you know?

Private schools in the rural area because of a lack of population, distances involved.

There were many reasons for it.

And, I'm not surprised that this program has run into trouble.

I do not see it long-term being a real, gold star success story in Ohio.

Shall we say.

>> What are your concerns?

>> I don't think the states should jump in in order to experiment by finding alternative schools for children to go to.

There's nothing wrong with the public school idea.

Students feel for variety of reasons.

There are schools that fail for variety of reasons.

The ideas to improve them.

I mean, public education, and libraries as well, are pivotal to the center of life in not only urban America, but rule America as well.

>> Anna, the Ohio Department of Education tracks counties were rural students come from.

What does the data tell us?

>> There are counties, about a dozen, with no private school students.

If you see where children take vouchers and attend private schools, they are in the big city.

In Hamilton County, Franklin County, --County.

That's where the majority of the private school students are.

And the majority of the states population.

What is interesting to me is the district that would benefit most from the universal voucher program are dominantly Democratic districts.

Republicans tend to have districts with little to no private schools.

>> Andrew, are there any estimates about how many students make that jump from public to private schools when given the chance?

>> I do not.

I remember from Anna's story, $1 billion is the price tag based on the estimates they have and how many students are going to go.

There is a sliding scale on how much money they will get from the income range.

It goes to that.

I don't know the answer to your question.

It's interesting to see the universal school vouchers the is a policy goal for the advocates for a long time.

Almost like they don't know what to do next.

Senator --talking about funding private schools in these areas.

I don't know what that cost would look like.

It's interesting to see what It's something that been trained to do for years.

>> This out there has been floating out there.

The Ohio education Association has come out against it.

How would it even work?

>> The weight works, if you make up to 450% of the federal poverty level, hundred and $30,000 for a family of four, the full voucher.

And it's a step down until 500 bucks a year.

You'll get 500 bucks a year whereas most people look at the full amount.

It's tiered that way so everybody get something, and the wealthiest don't get the full amount.

It was to control the cost.

The billion-dollar price tag is really big.

The majority of that is not on the students making the jump to private schools that's going to be the cost of the additional private school students.

There are tens of thousands of children in private school right now who are not eligible for the voucher.

The big question is, what percentage of those kids are suddenly going to take it?

How active are they, private school being, we are giving you a scholarship.

But now he can get money from the states, so when I do that?

>> Jean, given the challenges implementing a private system, especially in rural areas.

Is it a winning strategy for Republicans?

Is it something that sounded good in principle, but is difficult as we have seen to implement and carry out in reality?

>> This is my personal opinion, one of those things that is difficult to get across a winning finish line.

I'm reminding us saying from a good friend of mine who shall remain nameless.

The biggest single impediment to school funding reform in Ohio is the high school mascot.

We have 614 school districts in Ohio.

And now we will create more.

When it comes time for funding, now we have to deal with the formula.

If anybody in the viewing audience is familiar with nonlinear quadratic occasions, chaos theory?

The formulas become increasingly complicated.

The only way to fix it is to throw more money at it.

We will get into the formula, NEC 86 school districts get hurt.

We will adjust the transportation thing.

But now, hundred and 46 schools get hurt.

It's too many moving pieces.

How do they fix it?

Put more money into it.

That is the core problem we are having with this.

It's going to make it more difficult to come up with a good solution.

Like Anna said, the primary place where the students are using this undemocratic areas.

>> The majority of voters don't want them, and away as far as the politics of it.

In rural areas, Republicans voting for it don't really see their students benefiting.

I don't know how it'll play over time, it's difficult to rent this needle.

>> One Ohio recovery foundation controls $1.1 billion of Ohio's opioid overdose of settlement money.

The two-year state budget included a line item that exempts the foundation from public records and meeting laws.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the foundation was functionally a public entity and subject open meeting laws.

Joe, talk to us about what this money is meant for.

And, we have seen comparisons made between this opioid settlement money and tobacco settlement money.

>> Out of all the millions, billions of dollars, that originated from the tobacco settlement, only 3% of that money went to prevention.

--and I saw this firsthand.

Because I participated in boards that give grants for these things.

The interest, not the concern, a similar thing will happen here with one Ohio recovery foundation.

What really baffles the mind, in my opinion, is why the secrecy?

The last thing in the world you want in today's political and social environment is to make it seem like you're hiding things.

To me, and makes no sense at all.

There is a bunch of people involved, because this involves the foundation.

And the groups all over the state of Ohio.

Most of them are appointed by elected officials who are elected officials themselves.

I think it is silly.

>> Anna, what are the transparency?

>> It started because there were groups trying to get into the meetings, and they were told it was not public.

The court said it was public.

The legislature said no, it's not public.

That's the back and forth we've had here.

The groups maintained the meetings are private but separate.

Was a private, was I public.

We have a quasi-public and a quasi-private entity.

This billion-dollar settlement is public dollars.

There will be a lot of questions about where goes, how is it being managed.

When you deal with an entity when it is harder to track the dollars, as it goes out into the community.

>> Gene Krebs, why this line item in the budget, while lawmakers more willing to shrouded in a degree, I don't want to say secrecy.

But less transparency.

What is your take?

>> Once a week, I'm baffled but what my former friends and colleagues are doing.

By keeping a behind a curtain, it's an invitation for mischief.

We're fresh off the heels of this scandal and the interiors of that.

And the calculation here.

>> I go old way back to pancake in.

This is not the most recent scandal.

I look at it and go, guys, you are setting ourselves up.

Eventually, it'll blow up on you.

And then what will you do?

>> Time for the final of the record, parting shots.

Joe Mas?

>> I cannot get the education thing out of my mind.

What has changed the world, not just the U.S., but worldwide, is the availability of education and public libraries.

To actively promote the idea that they should be done away with or changed, it is an act of reckless folly.

Gene Krebs?

>> For 15 years, I've been saying on the show he cannot be the Populist party and both the party of business.

Recently, the most impactful bill the General assembly is likely to apply.

It is a really matter what the topic is so much, except the business community came in and said, we don't like it.

The House Republicans said, go pound sand, we will pass it.

I cannot get my mental arms around that idea.

That the populace beat the business community.

Sweep hope.

To a pulp and I cannot get past it.

Andrew?

>> The official Ohio event was They went out to Lake Erie and went fishing.

These kinds of things are a fund interlude for the summer.

But there is an election going on.

I saw --holding two fish, smiling as big as it possibly could.

Check out John Houston with the fish.

Anna Staver?

>> I was talking about the USA Today poll.

I thought I would give a sneak peek of next week.

We will release the numbers of the abortion amendment, recreational marijuana, and can control.

Stay tuned.

>> That will do it's for Columbus on the Record.

Continue the conversation on Facebook.

And you can go to WOSU.org or the video with --for the PBS video app.

Name is Matthew Rand, have a good week.