2020 Primary Election Guide - published by the Chronicle-Telegram

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2020 PRIMARY

ELECTION GUIDE published BY The Chronicle-Telegram Tuesday, February 25, 2020

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PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

PRIMARY 2020 CANDIDATES Lorain County Commissioner Republican......... 2 Commissioner Republican......... 2 Prosecutor Democratic.............. 3 U.S. House of Representatives 4th District Democratic............... 4 9th District.................................. 4 ISSUES Issue 2: Avon Lake renewal....... 6 Issues 3 and 4: Elyria liquor options.................... 6 Issues 5, 6 and 7: North Ridgeville renewals........... 6 Issue 8: Columbia Twp. replacement....... 7 Issue 9: Rochester Twp. renewal............. 8 Issue 10: Sheffield Twp. renewal............... 8 Issue 11: Amherst library additional.......... 8 Issue 12: Avon library additional................ 8 Issue 13: North Ridgeville Schools levy..... 9 Issue 14: Olmsted Falls Schools levy...... 10 Issue 15: Wellington Fire levy................... 11 Issue 16: Wellington Schools levy........... 11 Issue 17: Lorain County Community College levy........................................... 12 Lists of candidates and issues.12

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LORAIN COUNTY COMMISSIONER: REPUBLICANS Republican candidates G. David Gillock, the former mayor of North Ridgeville, and former Lorain County Commissioner David Moore will face off in the Republican primary for a seat on the Lorain County Board of Commissioners.

The winner will go on to face Democratic Commissioner Sharon Sweda, the incumbent who was appointed to fill a seat vacated by Ted Kalo when he resigned to become Lorain municipal clerk of courts in January 2019.

What makes you the best candidate for the position?

Gillock: Having served as mayor of North Ridgeville for 16 years, I believe I have a reputation of being honest and ethically responsible. I have a skill set, developed over those years, that makes me particularly well-suited to be a county commissioner. Having dealt with a budget nearing $100 million, supervising 208 employees and making North Ridgeville one of the safest communities in Ohio while undergoing tremendous growth gives me the ability to serve at the county level. When I became mayor, the city struggled to fund city operations. I left the city with a substantial financial reserve nearing $8 million.

Moore: I have the most expe-

G. DAVID GILLOCK Age: 72 Republican Education: Bachelor’s degree in engineering technology from Southern Illinois University Family: Married for 52 years with four daughters, eight grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren Job history: Mayor of North Ridgeville, 20032019; City Council president and councilman, two terms; independent insurance agent for 15 years; founder, Cardinal Casualty insurance company.

DAVID MOORE Age: 58 Republican Education: Bachelor’s degree, University of Michigan-Flint, 1985 Family: Married 33 years, three daughters, one son-in-law and one grandson Job history: Business owner, marketing, sales; Lorain County commissioner, 2001-2005; co-chair, Lorain County Campaign to Elect President Trump, 2016; Ohio Republican Party Central Committee

rience as a previous county commissioner and a fiscal conservative with proof during the four years of service keeping spending under inflation, has not happened since. Saved over $20 million by exposing the corruption of the Justice Center with people actually going to jail over their conduct. I worked as a team with both commissioners in a bipartisan effort to be efficient stewards for the taxpayers.

(9.5 percent increase over the four years versus 10 percent increases per year previous four

years.) I have proven that I can work across the aisle. We need checks and balances.

What is the biggest challenge facing the Board of Commissioners and how would you address it?

Gillock: One of their biggest challenges is regaining the trust of the voters after passing a sales tax increase after the voters rejected it. Also, they need to communicate better with townships regarding issues specific

to them such as storm water utilities, building codes and law enforcement. Communication is key to townships, villages and municipalities regarding county services.

Moore: Today the Board of Commissioners are poor stewards of our taxpayer funds. They actually lack any credibility in leading our county. They have gone against the wishes of the voters by approving a tax increase weeks after the voters rejected the sales tax.

The current efforts to force a new government body over the townships against their wishes is another example of how they operate for their own self interests instead of the people who elected them. I have a history of being blunt and looking out what is best for our county.

Unlike today’s board, which is what is best for their political party versus what is best for the taxpayers. My November opponent actually made that statement when appointed to the job, hence her loyalty is to the people who appointed her which is different than myself since I won my election with support from Democrats, Republicans and independents. I will bring back accountability and lead us toward a more representative Board of Commissioners with credibility.

— Dave O’Brien

LORAIN COUNTY COMMISSIONER: REPUBLICANS ELYRIA — Republican candidates Michelle Hung, a North Ridgeville city councilwoman, and attorney and accountant Gerald Phillips will face off in the Republican primary for a seat on the Lorain County Board of Commissioners.

The winner will go on to face incumbent Democratic Commissioner Lori Kokoski, who has been on the board since 2004.

William Daniel Fichtel, a Libertarian from Elyria, also has filed for the seat. He needs 25 votes to advance to the November ballot to face Kokoski and her Republican challenger.

What makes you the best candidate for the position?

Hung: During my tenure, I have been focused on doing the work. I have a 100 percent yes vote record for small business.

I have introduced and unanimously passed the updated sidewalk ordinance which now requires sidewalks be installed on both sides of the street for all newly constructed streets.

Additionally, I sponsored and unanimously passed legislation mandating builders connect sump pump discharge pipes to the storm sewer drain. In working with the Building Department, I have co-sponsored legislation that has given the city stronger recourse to have contractors finish a remodel or fix-it job adhering to our building code. This legislation serves as further protection for our residents. Instead of telling residents “This is how we are doing it,” I work with you and ask “How can I help you find a solution?”

Phillips: 1) Most qualified and experienced to oversee, the complexity of county government, financial, legal and social issues, 43 years of practical accounting experiences as a certified public accountant, and 42 years of practical legal experiences as an attorney. 2) My conservative fiscal philosophy is needed to oversee the multimillion-dollar funds and assets of the county. 3) My over 30 years of experience as an “activist” representing See COUNTY, 3

MICHELLE HUNG Age: 49 Republican Education: North Olmsted High School; attended Cuyahoga Community College and Kent State University Family: Married to Jeff for 15 years; a daughter, age 11 Job history: Retired sales, finance and inventory manager for Motorcars Honda; in first term as at-large North Ridgeville city councilwoman Website: VOTEHUNG.COM, www.facebook.com/hungforcommissioner

GERALD PHILLIPS Age: 70 Republican Education: Graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in accounting (major) and economics (minor), Cleveland State University, 1973; cum laude graduate, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, 1977; Family: Married to Maureen for 46 years, four children, two grandchildren Job history: Attorney for 42 years; certified public accountant for 43 years

PRIMARY 2020

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COUNTY

LORAIN COUNTY PROSECUTOR: DEMOCRATS Incumbent Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will faces a challenge from attorney J.D. Tomlinson in this year’s Democratic primary election.

The winner will go on to face Republican Robert Gargasz, an attorney from Lorain, in November.

Tomlinson previously faced Will in the March 2016 primary election, losing by less than 5 percent of the vote or just under 2,000 votes.

J.D. TOMLINSON

What makes you the best candidate for the position?

Age: 67 Party: Democratic Education: Elyria Catholic High School graduate, 1970; associate’s degree, Lorain County Community College, 1978; bachelor’s degree, Heidelberg College, 1981; law degree, Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, 1986 Family: Wife, Kay Job history: U.S. Marine Corps, honorably discharged with rank of sergeant in 1974; U.S. Steel plant, Lorain, 1975-77; Elyria Police Department, 1977-2002, retired at rank of captain; Lorain County Drug Task Force agent, March-December 2003; Sheffield Village prosecutor, January-December 2004; assistant Lorain County prosecutor for 12 years; Lorain County prosecutor since 2005.

Website: Friends of Dennis Will on Facebook; www. keepdenniswillprosecutor.com

Tomlinson: I am the best candidate for the office of Lorain County prosecutor because I am the candidate who has the energy to face the biggest challenge to the office: alcohol and opioid abuse.

Will: For almost 50 years, I have dedicated my life to the service of my community as a police officer and a prosecutor. I served for 25 years at the Elyria Police Department where I eventually rose to the rank of captain and where I managed complex and extensive criminal investigations.

I also served for 11 years as an assistant prosecuting attorney during which time I investigated and prosecuted felony criminal cases and supervised the Lorain County grand jury. During my 15-year tenure as your elected Lorain County prosecutor, the criminal division of my office has compiled a conviction rate of over 90 percent. I was recognized by the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association for my leadership abilities and was also honored as the County Prosecutor of the Year for the entire state of Ohio in 2014. Given my history of service in law enforcement and prosecution, I offer voters dedication, experience, determination and proven ability in this upcoming election.

What is the biggest challenge facing the prosecutor’s office and how would you address it?

Tomlinson: Alcohol and opioid abuse. Addiction leads to educational and vocational failure and, ultimately, to crime.

I will answer this challenge by being proactive. I intend to work closely with the county’s law enforcement agencies to intervene with at-risk youth who

From 2

Age: 39 Party: Democratic Education: Firelands High School class of 1999; bachelor’s degree in economics, Oberlin College, 2003; law degree, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 2006 Family: Single; parents Daniel and Marie Tomlinson; brother, Travis; two nieces and one nephew Job history: Private practice, 2004 to present.

Website: J.D. Tomlinson For Lorain County Prosecutor 2020 on Facebook.

DENNIS WILL

are beginning young adulthood by experimenting with, and trafficking in, controlled substances, and abusing alcohol. At the same time, I intend to be interfacing with our schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, Scouts and other organizations that touch and influence our youth, including our churches.

It is my plan to enforce the law vigorously against drug traffickers and to assist in the rehabilitation of drug-dependent victims, encouraging their participation in treatment and sober living. I plan to be a visible force in the community.

Will: Lorain County currently faces the challenge of statewide legislative changes that place a greater financial burden on local governments at a time when demand for services at the local level continues to increase each year. Recent legislative changes such as Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison as well as potential drug sentencing and post-release control reform include unfunded mandates that shift the cost of criminal justice to local government. Simultaneously, the legal landscape in which my office advocates for victims and strives to protect the rights and lives of Lorain County’s

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

citizens continues to increase in complexity.

I have sought to use a multipronged approach to address these issues. My office continually monitors ongoing changes in the law and alters its procedures and updates law enforcement on legal concepts as necessary. Moreover, through my position on the legislative committee of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, I consistently advocate for legislative changes that would best serve our county’s needs while opposing changes that would harm its citizens. I will continue to use these and all other available avenues to serve our county as its elected prosecutor.

— Dave O’Brien

citizens groups throughout Lorain County makes me a “voice” of the people. 4) Best chance to win in November. 5) Advocate for county government reform, townships, veterans and citizen’s rights.

What is the biggest challenge facing the county commissioners and how would you address it?

Hung: The residents of our county are looking for commissioners that will listen to the vote of the people. I, along with others, was upset when the sales tax increase was voted down, but they passed it anyway. Your vote, your voice matters to me.

The people want commissioners that represent them. Another concern I have is some of the townships aren’t happy with this residential building department being forced upon them. Some of the townships already have commercial building departments. So why aren’t we working with them to develop a residential department? Again, it goes

back to working with people and doing your best to find a solution that is cost effective and works.

In my experience working on the city level, I can’t see where this building department will be sustainable on permit fees alone. We have an economy that is doing great, however, these new permit fees could have the side effect of bringing new construction and small business start-ups to a grinding halt.

Phillips: Restoration of public confidence in government — steps I would take: 1) Allow for greater public participation at commissioner meetings. 2) Provide greater public education to the public regarding their government. 3) Act as true representatives of the people, public servants, listen to them and be their “voice.’’ 4) Eliminate government corruption. 5) Reformation of county government. 6) Institute fiscal conservative policies. 7) No tax increases without a vote of the people. 8) Provide greater transparencies in government, access to public records and strict adherence to the “sunshine laws.” 9) Realize that we are “Americans first,” not R’s and D’s.

— Dave O’Brien

Proudly endorsed by: Fraternal Order of Police, Lorain Lodge #3 Elyria Police Patrolmen’s Association Lorain Professional Firefighters, Local No. 267 Elyria Firefighters, Local No. 474 Lorain County AFL–CIO Federation of Labor Ohio Laborers Local 758 Communications Workers of America, District 4 SOAR - Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees

Paid for by the Committee to Elect J.D. Tomlinson for Lorain County Prosecutor

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PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 9TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS The 9th District U.S. House of Representatives seat is held by incumbent Democratic Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in the history of the House.

But this year she is facing Peter Rosewicz, a Democratic challenger new to politics hoping to unseat her and secure a spot on the November ballot to run against one of four Republican hopefuls.

What makes you the best candidate for the position?

Kaptur: I have consistently delivered results to our district since first being elected to Congress, bringing over $1 billion in federal dollars back home, including millions to restore Lorain’s Black River, restore Lake Erie waterways and our environment, develop our ports, rail, businesses and infrastructure, and secure our people’s housing, health care, retirement and education. I remain committed to good jobs with living wages and guaranteed benefits, fully funded public education and to fully finance traditional Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. I am a strong advocate for a respon-

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 4TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS

MARCY KAPTUR Age: 73 Party: Democratic Education: Bachelor’s degree in history, University of Wisconsin; master’s in urban planning, University of Michigan; completed study toward a PhD in urban planning, MIT Family: Single Job history: As a city and regional planner practicing for 15 years in Toledo and Chicago, and then appointed urban adviser to the president in the Jimmy Carter administration, I was pursuing my PhD when asked to run for Congress in 1982. It has been my great honor to represent Ohio’s 9th Congressional District since that election.

Website: marcykaptur.com

Three Democratic candidates will face off in March to see who will be running against Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, to represent Ohio’s 4th District in the U.S. House. The November ballot also will include independent Chris Gibbs and Libertarian Steven Perkins. The district represents Elyria, Amherst and Oberlin as well as other villages and townships in Lorain County.

PETER ROSEWICZ

What makes you the best candidate for this position?

Age: 32 Party: Democratic Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration/marketing, University of Akron, 2010 Family: Single Job history: Salesman; bartender; bar back; busboy; car wash; industrial floor stripper; dealership porter; Panera employee; city worker; nighttime kitchen manager; doorto-door salesman; mortgage loan originator; dogsitter; sous chef; kitchen manager; POC salesman; documentary promotion; sales and marketing at rock climbing gym; business consultant Website: rosewiczforcongress2020.com

sible energy policy reducing reliance on petroleum fuels while developing alternative sustainable energy sources.

Rosewicz: I am a regular person, not a career politician. I am able and willing to listen to See DEMS, 6

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 9TH DISTRICT REPUBLICANS Four Republicans are facing off to face either longtime Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur or her primary challenger on the November ballot.

They are Charles Barrett, Tim Connors, Tim Corrigan and Rob Weber.

Weber ran for the Ohio House’s 56th District seat against nowRep. Joe Miller in 2018. Tim Corrigan ran for Cuyahoga County Council District 2 in 2016. Charles Barrett ran for the 9th Congressional District in 2016 and is a ward leader for the Cuyahoga County Republican Central Committee.

Connors is new to politics.

Weber declined to answer the extended response questions.

What makes you the best candidate for the position?

Barrett: Previous experience running for Ohio’s 9th District congressional race in 2016.

Cuyahoga County Central Committee Ward Leader for D9 – 17K

The Chronicle-Telegram

and up for re-election this March 2020. In order to be successful in winning the Ohio 9th Congressional District, my message is targeted to not just Republicans but to moderate Democrat/ conservative Democrat voters who do not have a political voice which is being heard by the current progressive congressional Rep. Marcy Kaptur. The moderate and conservative Democrat voter have lost their party to the radical left, and it no longer reflects the traditional values that the Democrat Party embraced years ago.

Connors: Determination, integrity, faith, sincerity and a legislative agenda that works to solve real problems. I am running to eliminate congressional corruption. I am not running to just sit and vote but to actively participate in the crafting of legislation. I will go to Washington to get things done, not play a part in some circus. I will fight corruption and work to solve the legislative issues at hand throughout my term.

Corrigan: Family, God and country. We have gotten away from the things that our country was founded on. The basic principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I will fight for the U.S. Constitution and the way it was written. To protect all rights of every American, including free speech and the right to bear arms. I will not let illegal immigrants come in and take our jobs and take our hard-earned benefits. If they want them, then they have to do it the legal way and assimilate to our country. I will also protect our Social Security and Medicare systems. That money is for the future of every American that paid into it, not for Congress to take it and use it at their discretion.

What is the biggest challenge facing your district and how would you address it?

Barrett: Our biggest See NINTH, 5

Freshour: I’m the most-qualified candidate in this race because I know firsthand what it means to live as a member of the working class. As the daughter of a hard-working single mom in Ohio, I learned how to count by helping my mom add up her waitressing tips. We regularly lived paycheck to paycheck and were on welfare.

I’m running on protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act, strengthening unions and

the working class and giving our children quality public education including universal pre-K. Moreover, I would fight to bring new good-paying jobs to the district.

Larsen: Of the three Democrats in the primary, I believe I possess the experience and political skills to defeat Jim Jordan and represent our district. We have a real chance of defeating Jordan this year because of the well-funded Republican running as an independent in November, but only if we nominate someone who can go toe-to-toe with Jordan. I have decades of experience fighting for progressive causes, know the district well (I was Janet Garrett’s 2018 communications director when she challenged Jordan), and have thousands of hours of public speaking experience. I’ve also coached candidates and officeholders in debate prep and media training.

Sites: People in this district are fed up with Washington.

See FOURTH, 6

SHANNON FRESHOUR Age: 45 Party: Democratic Education: Trinity College, bachelor’s degree in political science and art history; Johns Hopkins University, master’s degree in American government Job history: Litigation paralegal for 20+ years Website: shannon4ohio.com

MIKE LARSEN Age: 59 Party: Democratic Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science Family: Larsen lives in Plain City with his wife and teenage daughter. He also has a grown daughter and three grandchildren living in Missouri.

Job history: Worked for more than two decades as a television writer and producer. Larsen wrote for a dozen shows, including “The Drew Carey Show;” “Ellen;” “Two Guys & a Girl;” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.” From 2008 to 2012, Larsen left writing to work for Congresswoman Jackie Speier in Washington, D.C. Website: ohiomike2020.com

JEFFREY SITES Age: 53 Party: Democratic Education: Associate degree from the Ohio Institute of Photography & Technology Family: A daughter, Emily Job history: Former military police officer, current assistant manager of shipping and receiving Website: sitesforcongress.com

PRIMARY 2020

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NINTH From 4

challenge is to establish a bipartisan approach and a willingness to work together. I say the differences and the political unwillingness to work together is isolated between Republican and Democrat leadership, and not amongst the voters — the people living in the 9th District. I, as a Republican congressional representative, will be willing to work for and assist our Democrat neighbors who predominantly live with us as neighbors, friends, colleagues, family members who feel that the Democrat leadership have abandoned their political needs and who feel a fresh start is needed in Congress.

I have chosen to focus on a business approach to improve our economic health of the 9th District.

The focus is on our resources that the 9th District has been blessed with such as Lake Erie, our most valued natural resource, two NASA facilities, shipping and rail of which is under-utilized currently and in dire need of revitalization, mid to heavy industry such as steel mills and auto manufacturing, places of higher learning and job training facilities which keep us competitive in today’s changing world.

Connors: The national economy is booming, and the economy here in the 9th is improving, but we can still do more. I would work to increase small business ownership in our communities, renovate our shoreline infrastructure, attract new people to make the 9th District their home, and create a lasting zone of opportunity that continues to grow for generations to come. I also believe we must diligently protect Lake Erie so that we can sustain and maintain our local economies and water supply.

Corrigan: I believe it is Lake Erie and our freshwater systems.

We have to make sure that the water stays clean and free from all pollutants. To make sure that no corporation dumps illegal waste in our rivers and fresh water sanctuaries. Also to try and stabilize the lake levels and find out the cause of the rise and fall of the water so we can better understand how to maintain it with minimal amount of damage to the surrounding lands.

— Carissa Woytach

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

CHARLES W. BARRETT

TIMOTHY CORRIGAN

Age: 51 Party: Republican Education: Bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University; MBA International Management & Finance, Baldwin-Wallace College Family: Married Job history: Accounting/finance, banking, IT

Age: 63 Party: Republican Education: High school, some college, no degree Family: Fourth oldest of 13 children; father of two girls Job history: Firefighter and medic for more than 34 years, now retired

TIM CONNORS Age: 29 Party: Republican Education: GED in Nevada; attended and dropped out of Columbus State Community College; started independent studies on my own at age 13 and still pursue independent continuing education.

Family: Engaged; waiting until after marriage for children; mother, stepfather, and two younger sisters ages 9 and 11 live in Avon Lake. The rest of my family is scattered across the United States with a heavy concentration in Las Vegas.

Job history: Started in the aircraft industry near Columbus in 2010 and took on various manual labor positions eventually ending up in manufacturing here in northern Ohio until the middle of 2013; three years in sales before opening a small retail business in 2016. I closed the physical storefront in December 2019, clearing the path forward for this run, and currently still conduct online sales. I recently founded a small consulting business with a single partner, the company is yet to conduct business as operations are on hold while I seek public office.

Website: timconnorsforcongress.com

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ROB WEBER Age: 47 Party: Republican Education: Walsh Jesuit High School, United States Military Academy at West Point, bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering; University of Louisville, MBA; Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, juris doctorate Family: Wife Michaelene “Mickie” Weber; four adult stepchildren; two grandchildren Job history: U.S. Army Captain, Armor (tanks), 1991-2000; trial lawyer, Hermann, Cahn & Schneider LLP and Robert M. Weber Co., LLC, 2003-2019 Website: www.RobWeberForCongress.com; Twitter @ WestPointWeber

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PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

ISSUE 2: AVON LAKE POLICE/FIRE RENEWAL AVON LAKE — A five-year renewal of a levy that has provided part of the funding for Avon Lake police, Fire Department and general operations of city services since 2000 is going before voters in March.

The levy has raised $1.028 million yearly, about 6.5 percent of Avon Lake’s general fund budget.

Because significant construction of residential properties has occurred since the levy was first passed in 2000, the effective rate of millage is 0.954 mills.

Mayor Greg Zilka said a pizza metaphor works to explain millage. Imagine ordering a pizza for a gathering of six people and slicing the pizza into six pieces, but then four more people show up — just as more property has been built in the city, now the same pizza is cut into 10 slices, he said.

The levy is similar but with taxes, he said. The amount the levy generates does not increase but each taxpayer’s share decreases.

“The bottom line is, the more houses built in the community, the more businesses built, the more people are sharing that ($1.028 million) burden,” he said.

The money generated by the levy goes into the general fund so

FOURTH From 4

We’re tired of politicians claiming they’re for the middle class but make policy for billionaires to march in lockstep for party and personal political gain.

The middle class of the Ohio 4th needs representation who knows what ordinary families go through and will support real solutions for our families instead of clinging to one philosophy or another at our families’ expense.

I’m an average working father. I know what people like me want our leaders working on, and I know we want them to put our interests first through representation for our families’ security and dreams. We need a practical, middle class voice, like mine, in Congress.

What is the biggest challenge facing the district and how would you address it?

Freshour: The odds are stacked against working people, and we

ISSUE 2 What it is: A 1.5-mill renewal levy, effective rate of 0.954 mills Duration: Five years How much it would raise: $1.028 million annually Purpose: To continue funding city services Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home would continue to pay $29.22 per year.

funds are spread around to different places as needed, but Zilka said they help fund everything from the police and fire to street repairs and “quality of life things” like Recreation Department activities.

He added that the levy has been renewed three times “relatively comfortably,” and the majority of the city’s campaign is city officials promoting it verbally. But if voters reject the renewal in the spring, the city plans to try again in November with a more thorough campaign.

Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.

all have a responsibility to fight to protect good-paying jobs, unions, the middle class and the American dream. Our current representative recently voted against the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would have given power back to the workers during labor disputes. I will fight to protect life-saving programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP. The current Republican leadership supports Trump’s 2021 budget, which cuts nearly $2 trillion from these programs over the next decade. I will fight to protect the safety net and our residents.

Larsen: Our biggest challenge is having a congressperson who doesn’t care about his district.

When I’m elected, I’ll hold monthly town hall meetings and focus my office on the needs of my constituents. That’s how Congresswoman Speier served her district, and I will duplicate that level of service here. I also will fight to remove battlefield weapons from our streets and schools, work to guarantee reproductive

ISSUES 3 AND 4: ELYRIA LIQUOR OPTIONS ISSUE 3 What it is: What it is: Local option Sunday sales Duration: N/A Purpose: To allow C Supermarket to sell liquor on Sunday.

Elyria residents living in Ward 2-D will vote on Issue 3, which will decide whether to allow C Supermarket, 1227 Lake Ave., to sell liquor on Sunday.

The Chronicle-Telegram

ISSUES 5, 6 AND 7: NORTH RIDGEVILLE POLICE/FIRE AND ROADS/BRIDGES RENEWAL NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Issues 5, 6 and 7 are routine renewals that come around every five years, but Mayor Kevin Corcoran said the money they bring is critical for the city’s proper function.

“We’re fixed in the amount of money we can collect from those levies, but they provide essential services to our community,” he said.

The police levy first passed in 1976, the fire levy first passed in 1975 and the roads and bridges

levy first passed in 1990.

The $1.5 million generated every year by Issue 5 goes toward Police Department staffing. The levy provides around 20 percent of the department’s more than $7.6 million annual budget. Currently, the Police Department employs 51 people.

The $1.4 million generated annually by Issue 6 funds Fire Department staffing.

See RIDGEVILLE, 7

ISSUE 4 What it is: Local option Sunday sales Duration: N/A Purpose: To allow Elyria Food Mart to sell liquor on Sunday.

Elyria residents living in Ward 6-B will vote on Issue 4, which will decide whether to allow Elyria Food Mart, 8703 West Ridge Road, to sell liquor on Sunday.

rights and make sure our tax dollars are brought back to the district to repair our failing infrastructure and expand broadband to small towns.

Sites: Too many people are one unexpected expense away from disaster. I’ve been there. I was hurt while out of work and couldn’t afford to see a doctor and have skipped medication to make ends meet. We need to make things a little easier for working families like mine and yours, offer not just a little more security, but a protected path for our children’s future. We’ll do it by bringing living wage jobs to this district with investments in infrastructure and the green economy, improving our health care system so it works for everyone, and making sure no one is worried about losing Social Security and Medicare. That will be my priority in Congress, to represent the interests of all families in the Ohio 4th, regardless of party affiliation. I will be a true representative of the people of the Ohio 4th.

— Laina Yost

DYLAN REYNOLDS / CHORNICLE

Police cruisers sit outside the North Ridgeville Police Department on Feb. 5.

DEMS From 4

everyone. I don’t owe 36 years of donations or favors to millionaires. I’ve been rich, poor, special, regular, respected and ignored. I am only doing this to show people that they can do good in this world without needing $3 million in order to “have a snowball’s chance in hell” of beating someone like Marcy. Enacting tangible campaign finance reform is the only way to get money out of politics and remind people that we give the government rights, not the other way around.

What is the biggest challenge facing your district and how would you address it?

Kaptur: The single most-important issue is to ensure security for all Americans. This includes the economic well-being of every American, not just a privileged few, and includes security in employment, health, retirement,

housing and education. To this end, we must continue our efforts to identify and develop the jobrich growth sectors in our local economy and enhance university and federally driven research to ensure that our region is competitive in a rapidly changing economy. I have focused my efforts in Congress on these issues and will continue to do so if given the opportunity to serve again.

Rosewicz: The biggest challenges facing my district are pretty obvious if you look but, more importantly, listen to the people who live there. I, being a Lakewood resident, hear a lot. The most common thing I hear is that people have given up. They don’t bother stressing over the newest headline, from both sides, because they don’t believe in anything even closely related to government anymore. They see that Congress works for donors, not for them.

I’m not addressing it, I’m shoving it into the light then burying it so it never happens again.

— Carissa Woytach

PRIMARY 2020

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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

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ISSUE 8: COLUMBIA TWP. FIRE REPLACEMENT

KRISTIN BAUER / CHRONICLE

A house fire broke out in January on Forest Park Drive in North Ridgeville. Firefighters quickly knocked it down.

RIDGEVILLE

Root Road in North Ridgeville is open at Center Ridge Road.

From 6

Around 23 percent of the Fire Department’s $6.5 million budget is covered by the levy. There are 40 people employed by the Fire Department.

Unlike the other two levies, Issue 7 does not fund staffing.

“It only buys product and equipment. It cannot pay for manpower,” Safety Services Director Jeff Armbruster said.

North Ridgeville paved about 15 roads last year and continues to do a lot of paving as the city quickly grows.

North Ridgeville remains the fastest-growing community in the area and one of the fastest-growing in Ohio.

Combined, the three levies bring in $4.45 million each year, costing the owner of a $100,000 home $148.50 annually. As renewals, taxes would not go up if they pass.

If any of the levies fail, Corcoran said the city would have to put them on the ballot again in November.

“I think we’d have no choice because they’re that important to our city,” he said.

“We’re not asking for additional money beyond what we’ve been collecting for years. Usually renewals tend to do very well, and

KRISTIN BAUER CHRONICLE

ISSUE 5

COLUMBIA TWP. — A small department in a small community with a lot of calls — that’s one way to describe the Columbia Township Fire Department.

A small department in a growing township with more and more daily calls is another.

The replacement levy is needed no matter what, said Fire Chief Ray Anthony.

It pays for general maintenance and repairs, utilities, payroll and upgrades.

“Just the day-to-day operations,” he said.

The station is manned around the clock by two firefighters, who rotate the job with other staff.

There are 35 members of the department.

“We’re a volunteer department,” Anthony said. “Our guys don’t get any benefits. They are paid an hourly rate to work the station. That (money) goes for training, as well as other things, like keeping equipment up.”

In 2015, the department received 754 service calls. That number has increased steadily through the years. In 2019, the department received 712 calls for EMS and 217 calls for fire. Additionally, mutual aid was given on 64 occasions, and received 32 times.

The levy increase will generate an additional $45,000 per year, according to Anthony.

“Costs keep going up,” he

ISSUE 8 What it is: A 1-mill replacement levy with a 0.06mill increase Duration: Five years How much would it raise: $260,000 annually Purpose: Operations Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $2.10.

said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth in Columbia Township over the years. We want to stay in front of it. We’ll ask for a little bit now, and in a few more years we’ll have to ask for more.”

If the levy is not approved by voters in March, it will be put before voters again in November, he said.

“If it doesn’t pass then, we’ll have a hurdle to cross,” Anthony said.

However, voters are typically supportive of the department, he said.

“I’ve been chief quite a few years, and they usually pass, which is something I never take for granted,” he said. “I thank the residents for all of the levies they have passed. It is really important to have this levy approved to serve them, their families and the people who come to our community.”

Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or ctnews@chroniclet.com.

What it is: 1.95-mill renewal Duration: Five years How much it would raise: $1.5 million per year Purpose: To fund staffing at the North Ridgeville Police Department Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home will continue paying $50.36 per year.

ISSUE 6 What it is: 1.9-mill renewal Duration: Five years How much it would raise: $1.47 million per year Purpose: To fund staffing at the North Ridgeville Fire Department Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home will continue paying $49.07 per year.

ISSUE 7 What it is: 1.9-mill renewal Duration: Five years How much it would raise: $1.47 million per year Purpose: To fund fund work on roads and bridges in North Ridgeville Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home will continue paying $49.07 per year.

the community is usually very supportive of our efforts with all three of those.”

Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.

KRISTIN BAUER / CHRONICLE

Members of the Columbia Township Fire Department participate in the Homecoming Parade. The department is seeking a replacement levy on the March ballot.

8

PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

ISSUE 9: ROCHESTER TOWNSHIP EMS/FIRE ROCHESTER TWP. — Having its own fire department is a perk for those living in a small township, according to officials.

“We’re such a little place,” said Fiscal Officer Laura Brady. “People appreciate us having it. It’s an all-volunteer fire department, but for us, it’s wonderful to have in our area.”

The levy has been on the books for more than 20 years.

It will raise $39,000 each year over five years, costing the owner of a $100,000 about $20 annually, according to Brady.

“We don’t put it on very often,” she said. “It’s used for the upkeep of equipment, maintenance and training.”

ISSUE 9 What it is: A 2-mill renewal levy Duration: Five years How much would it raise: $39,000 annually Purpose: Operations Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $20 per year.

The township relies on South Lorain County EMS for emergency medical services, but its firefighters are first responders.

“Voters always pass it,” Brady said. “They appreciate us having it.”

The Chronicle-Telegram

ISSUE 10: SHEFFIELD TOWNSHIP EMS If the levy does not pass in March, the department will continue to operate using the funds it already has in place, but likely will go back to the voters in November.

Without the levy, the department would not have funds to operate.

Luckily that hasn’t been a problem in the past, according to Brady.

“We really haven’t had a problem with it,” she said. “People are grateful to have what we have down here. If it wouldn’t pass in November, or ever again, we pretty much wouldn’t be able to have a volunteer fire department.”

Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or ctnews@chroniclet.com.

ISSUE 11: AMHERST PUBLIC LIBRARY

SHEFFIELD TWP. — Voters in Sheffield Township are being asked to renew a levy that has funded part of the township’s EMS and ambulance program since the 1980s.

“We’ve counted on it for more than 30 years,” said township Fiscal Officer Pat Echko.

The 0.5-mill levy raises $25,339 each year of its five-year duration to partially pay Fire Chief Joe Bandagski, who oversees the EMS program, and to repair and supply EMS and ambulance equipment.

Other levies provide the majority of the township’s EMS and ambulance funding. Echko acknowledged that the money Issue 10 raises plays a key role in sustaining important programs in the township.

“It is important for us to continue to have it, but it doesn’t bring in a lot of money,” she said.

“Our whole premise is to be good stewards of our money and not increase taxes for residents.”

The township operates three ambulances and two fire trucks.

Echko said she would be sur-

ISSUE 10 What it is: A 0.5-mill renewal for ambulance and EMS Duration: Five years How much it would raise: $25,339 per year Purpose: To provide funding for the ambulance and EMS and ambulance program Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home would continue to pay $13.58 per year.

prised if the issue failed because of its longevity.

“Our residents are so good about taking care of themselves and the township, so we don’t have a big campaign that goes on,” she said. “We just put it out there and the community continues to support it.”

If Issue 10 fails, Echko said Sheffield Township would turn to its constituents to figure out why they voted it down then try the levy again in November.

Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.

ISSUE 12: AVON PUBLIC LIBRARY AVON — The Avon Branch Library would be getting a lot bigger if voters approve a 2.0mill additional levy to build and maintain an expansion to the current building.

Lorain Public Library System is asking for a 20-year additional money levy to fund construction and operation of the 14,000- to 15,000- square-foot facility, which would more than double the library’s size.

KRISTIN BAUER / CHRONICLE

Cayden Valtman, 2, of Amherst, reacts to seeing a toy train travel around its track while with his mother, Rhiannon on Dec. 4 at the Amherst Public Library.

AMHERST — Library officials are asking voters to approve a 0.73-mill bond issue to significantly increase the building’s size.

The library already is a hybrid of two different eras. The original building was built by Scottish-American philanthropist and businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1906. He built more than 2,500 libraries throughout the country from the 1880s through the 1920s.

An addition was built in 1976.

“The way people use libraries is different, but our usage has stayed pretty

steady,” Administrator Don Dovala said.

The library’s tentative plan would add more children’s space, meeting spaces, room for programming and more materials, said Fiscal Officer Kristin Cioffi.

“The idea is to build out over the eight closest parking spots nearest the building in a two-story structure,” she said. That would add 10,000 square feet.

“We have a lot more people coming See AMHERST, 9

See AVON, 9

ISSUE 12 What it is: 2.0-mill additional money for library Duration: 20 years How much it would raise: $1.9 million per year Purpose: To expand the Avon Branch Library’s current building Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $70 per year an increase of $33.24 more per year.

ISSUE 11 What it is: A 0.73-mill bond issue Duration: 15 years How much would it raise: $5 million Purpose: To add an addition to the current library building Cost to homeowner/ taxpayer: The owner of a $100,000 home will pay $25.55 annually.

COURTESY BIALOSKY CLEVELAND AND LORAIN PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM.

This concept art of the Avon Branch Library, shows the expansion on the left and a renovated version of the current library on the right.

The Chronicle-Telegram

PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

9

ISSUE 13: NORTH RIDGEVILLE SCHOOLS

COURTESY BIALOSKY CLEVELAND AND LORAIN PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM.

This concept rendering shows the children’s area inside the proposed expansion to the Avon Branch Library, which includes a greater book selection and an interactive play area.

AVON From 8

A 1.2-mill operating levy that funds the Avon Branch Library would go away if the new levy passes.

Aaron Hill, an architect with Bialosky Cleveland, revealed several renderings of the expansion to City Council on Feb. 3. The renderings showed a building inspired by the agricultural history of Avon, with a structure inspired by farmhouses and greenhouses letting in lots of natural light through tall windows.

The decision to go to the ballot came after more than a year of meetings with residents and city leaders and consistently hearing that a larger building was wanted, said Lorain Public Library Sys-

AMHERST From 8

into the library for programming and for collaborative work, especially students, and we don’t have those spaces. We have lots of junior high and high school kids, between 30 to 50, that come every day, and we need the space to put them without disrupting what people think of as traditional library use, like quiet spaces,” Dovala said.

The library is such a hot spot

tem Chief Operations Officer and Director Anastasia Diamond-Ortiz.

“When the branch was built in 1994, there were only 10,000 residents in Avon,” she said. “That has more than doubled.”

The expanded building would allow for new features including more than double the space for books and magazines, an expanded interactive play area for families, more quiet reading space and a meeting room that can fit 100 people or be divided into several smaller rooms.

“It’s going to create so much space for families,” Diamond-Ortiz said. “Great communities have great libraries, and we know that Avon is a great community.”

Six or seven new job positions will be created to support the larger building, Diamond-Or-

tiz said. Additionally, the current building would be renovated.

The library has committed to remaining open during the construction process. If the levy passes and construction begins next year, the current library could be used while the expansion is built. Then the current building would be renovated while the new side is open.

If the levy fails, Diamond-Ortiz said voters will be given a chance to just renew the current 1.2-mill operating levy before it expires at the end of 2021. But if Issue 12 passes, voters won’t see the library on the ballot for a long time.

“We will not be coming back to the voters for 20 years,” Diamond-Ortiz said. “This is it.”

for youth that it hosts “Teenspace” hours every Monday through Thursday, with a section of the library designated just for them.

Libraries are offering more community programming these days for all age groups, not just teens, but “a lot of families have both parents working and this is a nice, safe space to come and do homework or be entertained with their friends,” he said.

There are no architectural plans drawn up because officials didn’t want to spend money to contract

plans without knowing if voters would approve the bond issue, Cioffi said.

“None of this is set in stone, but these are the things we need,” Dovala said. “We are running out of space.”

Last year, 121,000 visitors came to the library and 173,000 physical items were checked out, Dovala said.

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — After its substitute levy was rejected by voters in last November’s general election, North Ridgeville Schools is trying again with a key difference the district believes will make it more appealing to taxpayers.

The levy failed by 120 votes in November. The district believes that levy’s “continuing” duration — meaning it would not have to appear before voters for approval again — was a turnoff for those wary of committing to funding the operations indefinitely.

Burges & Burges Strategists, a firm that analyzed November’s election results for the district, previously advised that some voters pulled support because of the continuing duration. This time, the substitute levy will have a 10-year duration.

“We heard pretty loud and clear that the community wanted the opportunity to come back and evaluate our school district,” Superintendent Roxann Ramsey-Caserio said. “We changed the term of this substitute levy to 10 years.”

What has not changed is the fact that the levy would replace four current operating levies that account for 40 percent of North Ridgeville Schools’ local operating dollars but are set to expire in the coming years. Two of the emergency levies that would be replaced expire in 2020, one expires in 2022 and another in 2023.

While homeowners would not see any increase in taxes over what they pay now, taxes also would not decrease as new construction is completed in the city.

Rather, the school district

ISSUE 13 What it is: 11.72-mill substitute tax levy Duration: 10 years How much it would raise: About $10.6 million annually Purpose: To raise around 40 percent of the district’s local operating funds Cost to homeowner: Nothing over current rate of $358.93 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home

would “capture” the growth of the city, generating more money as homes and commercial properties are built.

Ramsey-Caserio said the levy eventually could double its yield generating “closer to $20 million, assuming construction remains stable throughout the next 10 years.”

In November, the district tried the substitute levy alongside a school improvement bond issue that would have provided funds to build a new high school and elementary school. The bond issue also failed. This time, Ramsey-Caserio said the focus is directed at making sure the schools have money to maintain their essential services.

“Until this issue is addressed, we can’t really think through a building project,” she said. “We need to stabilize our operating dollars and then think through the future of our buildings.”

If the levy were to fail again and none of the four operating levies are renewed individually, the district would begin losing money in See RIDGEVILLE, 10

Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.

Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail. com.

STEVE MANHEIM / CHRONICLE

The exterior of North Ridgeville High School is shown. The school district has put a substitute levy before voters on the March primary ballot.

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PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

The Chronicle-Telegram

ISSUE 14: OLMSTED FALLS SCHOOLS OLMSTED FALLS — The Olmsted Falls Schools is seeking additional money from its residents and, whether or not the levy is approved, cuts still need to be made.

The district is reducing $3.5 million from its $47 million budget for the 2020-2021 school year.

Cost-reduction measures, including pay freezes, reduction in curriculum material and no purchases of new buses, will result in $2 million savings.

The district also will eliminate 19 staff positions from the bus garage to the board office, resulting in $1.5 million in savings.

“We are faced with a pretty big deficit in our general budget,” Olmsted Falls Schools Superintendent Jim Lloyd said. “Our expenditures are greater than our revenues. The last time we passed an operating levy was in 2009, and we promised to make it last four years. We made it last a lot longer than that.”

Over the past three years, the district has been deficit spending to “stave off the financial bleeding,” Lloyd said. “Our over reliance on property owners for school funding in this state means we have to go back to the voters.”

While there isn’t one thing that made the levy necessary, there are a few things that pushed up the timeline, according to Lloyd.

When the state froze school funding in July, the district knew the time had come.

“Thirty-five percent of our budget ($14.2 million) is from the state,” Lloyd said. “We’ve received an increase from the state based on formula funding each year, which is a 4 percent average income increase. With that gone, it quickened our pace to the ballot.”

The district had projected a $600,000 influx in 2020 and a $900,000 influx in 2021, but now that will not happen.

The district would have put a levy on the ballot in November

KRISTIN BAUER / CHRONICLE

Students and faculty of Olmsted Falls Schools pose for a photo. The district has Issue 14 on the ballot, an 8.9-mill additional levy to shore up finances in the face of a mounting deficit.

2020, but the freeze meant going to voters sooner.

“We wanted to show good faith and show the voters that we’ve tightened our belts,” Lloyd said.

If the levy is not approved in March, the district will need to cut an additional $1.7 million from the budget, meaning more teaching positions will be eliminated, payto-play will be implemented, busing to the high school will be eliminated and the district will go to the state minimum requirements for

busing students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and there will be further staff reductions.

Lloyd does not want that to happen.

“I moved my family here so my children could be part of this district,” he said. “This district does a lot of great things. One of the reasons people move here is because of the schools. But 68 percent of the people who live in the district don’t have kids in the schools and if they feel as though they are get-

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ting taxed out of their homes, who am I to argue? People are saying they love the schools, but can’t support another levy because of the unfair, unconstitutional funding model we have in Ohio. I have a lot of respect for those who say they can’t do it.”

If the levy is not approved in March, the district will place it on the ballot again in November.

i

What it is: An 8.9-mill additional levy Duration: Continuous How much would it raise: $5.1 million annually Purpose: Current expenses Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home will pay about $276 annually.

Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or ctnews@chroniclet.com.

RIDGEVILLE From 9

Mon-Fr

ISSUE 14

January 2021. At the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, $4.6 million in cuts would be in order.

Ramsey-Caserio said the district already runs “a very tight ship” and cuts could hit the school’s staffing, transportation and supplies. She

said the district tries to be responsible with the money it is given.

“Despite — over the last 10 years, our population growing by over 700 students — we still were operating at the same funding level locally,” she said.

Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357

PRIMARY 2020

The Chronicle-Telegram

ISSUE 15: WELLINGTON FIRE

STEVE MANHEIM / CHRONICLE

ISSUE 15 What it is: A 2.75-mill replacement levy Duration: Five years How much would it raise: $922,000 annually Purpose: Operations Cost to homeowner: The owner of a $100,000 home would pay about $96 annually.

Wetherbee said.

“We don’t ask for much, just for what we need to run the fire department,” he said. “We have two full-time guys and the rest are volunteers.”

Volunteer firefighters are paid per call.

The department employs 27 firefighters, and while they are first responders, the department does not have an ambulance to transport patients, instead working closely with the South Lorain County EMS. They do have a number of other responsibilities, however.

“We respond anytime, anywhere, wherever we are needed,” Wetherbee said. “We are public

11

ISSUE 16: WELLINGTON SCHOOLS

Wellington firefighters put out a garage and house fire on Wenner Street in Wellington on Dec. 22. The department is seeking a 2.75-mill replacement levy on the March ballot.

WELLINGTON — Issue 15 is the only source of revenue for the Wellington Fire Department.

First put on the books in 1970, it initially was a 1.25-mill levy. In 50 years, the department has had to increase it by 1.5 mills, something Fire Chief Mike Wetherbee is pretty proud of. By seeking a replacement levy, it does allow the department to benefit from new construction and growth — meaning it should bring in more than a renewal would have.

“We chose to go with just one operating levy,” Wetherbee said.

“We plan and are responsible with our spending.”

Major capital considerations for the next five years include replacing a front line engine, replacing district communications equipment, refurbishing a rescue vehicle, replacing a utility truck and turnout gear replacement.

The department also will be moving forward with the expansion of Station No. 2, which should break ground in late summer.

And it will all be done without a bond issue or levy increase as long as the good support for the department’s levies continues,

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

servants, not firefighters when it comes right down to it.”

Of course, they do respond to fire calls, but they also go out on odor calls, carbon dioxide calls, car wrecks, rescue calls, animal rescue calls and more.

“That’s fine with us,” Wetherbee said. “We will go anywhere we are needed, and if we can’t help, we will find someone who can.”

The renewal levy will raise about $922,000 annually, costing the owner of a $100,000 about $96 per year.

“We ask for just what we think we are going to need to sustain our trucks, equipment and gear and make sure everything is in good working order,” Wetherbee said.

The Wellington Fire District consists of Wellington, and Wellington, Brighton, Huntington, Penfield and Pittsfield townships.

The district provides fire, rescue, and public education services to a coverage area of 125 square miles and 13,000 residents, answering more than 500 calls per year.

Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or ctnews@chroniclet.com.

WELLINGTON — For the second time, Wellington Schools is trying to pass a bond and maintenance levy to improve Westwood Elementary and Wellington High schools.

Issue 16 is a combined 1.89-mill bond issue and 1-mill permanent improvement levy. It will cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $96 per year.

Wellington Schools Superintendent Ed Weber said the district is asking for $8.7 million to make roof, parking lot and boiler replacements.

“The costs are large, over a million dollars each,” Weber said.

“We cannot fund repairs at that size from our general fund. We can’t do those if we don’t get those funds. The costs will get bigger in the future. Now is the best time to make these corrections.”

The school district put the levy before voters in November, but it was shot down by 1,090 voters, or 58.4 percent. At that time, Weber said he gave it about a year before the district desperately would need the funds that were denied.

Now he’s giving it about six months. The district is continually patching the leaky roof, and the parking lots will continue to crumble, Weber said. That will drive the cost of the repairs higher.

“Those will continue to worsen until there’s another crisis,” Weber said. “Long term, we can’t operate three buildings if we can’t keep them in working order.”

If the school does not receive additional funds, Weber said the school board has said Westwood, built in the 1960s, would have to close in the near future.

“Some people say do it with what you’ve got,” Weber said. “But that means cutting programs and staff or closing one of the schools.”

ISSUE 16 What it is: A 1.89-mill bond issue and 1-mill permanent improvement levy How much would it raise: $8.7 million over 37 years Purpose: To raise money for improvements at Westwood Elementary and Wellington High schools Cost to homeowners/ taxpayers: The owner of a $100,000 home would pay about $96 per year.

And with the season’s winter weather of freeze and thaw, Weber said it hasn’t helped the roofs, although it has been beneficial to their boilers. Because it’s been a milder winter, Weber said the district hasn’t needed a third boiler, which is currently not working.

To get the second boiler to work, Weber said maintenance staff had to take parts from that third boiler.

To help educate people around Wellington about the state of the two buildings, Weber said the district has arranged a couple tour dates for each school.

From 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 and March 10, there will be tours through the elementary school.

From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 and March 12, there will be tours through the high school. Teachers and staff members will be on hand to talk about their experiences.

And if people cannot make it to the schools for the tours, Weber said the district is sending an invitation to parents for coffee at home. He said he and someone of the parents choice from the school will visit homes to talk the facilities and why the money is needed.

Contact Laina Yost at 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com.

ANDREW DOLPH / CHRONICLE

Wellington seniors await their commencement in June at Wellington High School.

12

PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

ISSUE 17: LORAIN COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE ELYRIA — Lorain County Community College is working to keep in place the levy it’s had since the college’s founding in the early 1960s.

Issue 17 is a 2.3-mill levy renewal with an addition, a 0.5-mill increase included from the last levy the college put on the ballot.

That levy will expire in December.

The levy is a 10-year operating levy, and it will expire in 2030 if passed. The renewal would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $72 a year. The college would receive about $15.6 million per year with its passage.

Tracy Green, vice president of strategic and institutional development at LCCC, said college officials never have put a permanent levy on the ballot to stay accountable to the community.

“The majority of this funding keeps us doing what we’ve done to impact this community and deliver what we’ve delivered to this community for 57 years,” Green said. “It’s essential to who we are, our mission and what we’ve been able to accomplish. ... We come back to taxpayers and we tell them ‘This is what we’ve done in the last 10 years. Here’s what we’ve accomplished, here’s how we’ve utilized the funding to impact our local community and here’s what we see going forward.’ “ The 0.5 mill addition, which amounts to about $17.50 per $100,000 home, allows the college to “keep pace with this changing economy,” Green said. She said LCCC works to keep on top of what’s relevant for jobs.

“There’s such an economic transformation right now,” Green said. “We weren’t talking about, even five years ago, programs like block chain. We weren’t talking about programs like the industrial internet of things. But there’s a complete reset of the economy.”

In the next 10 years, Green said the college will have to continue

The Chronicle-Telegram

LIST OF CANDIDATES (CONTESTED RACES) U.S. President Democratic primary Michael Bennet Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Michael R. Bloomberg Pete Buttigieg Tulsi Gabbard Amy Klobuchar Deval Patrick Bernie Sanders Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren Andrew Yang (write-in)

9th District Republican primary Charles W. Barrett Tim Connors Timothy P. Corrigan Rob Weber

Lorain County Commissioner Republican primary Michelle Hung Gerald W. Phillips

U.S. House

Commissioner Republican primary G. David Gillock David J. Moore

4th District Democratic primary Shannon M. Freshour Mike Larsen Jeffrey A. Sites KRISTIN BAUER / CHRONICLE

County law enforcement officers and leaders came to the Boys and Girls Club on Jan. 23 for the Community Connections Session spotlighting event celebrating the Lorain County Community College Police Academy and Public Safety Institute for Advanced Professional Development.

ISSUE 17 What it is: A 2.3-mill levy renewal with an addition Duration: 10 years How much would it raise: $15.6 million Purpose: To fund LCCC’s general operating budget Cost to homeowner/ taxpayer: The owner of a $100,000 home will pay about $72 annually.

to look at what new programs need to be put in place and what current programs need to evolve.

That includes investing in new labs, new technology and new equipment.

Because the state put parameters on the tuition colleges charge, Green said the issue of an increase in tuition will have to come out of the state Legislature first, likely when legislators work on another state budget. When the levy originally was passed, it was supposed to be evenly split with funding from students and the state. But

now 23 percent of the college’s funding comes from the levy, while 44 percent of funding is from the state and 29 percent comes from tuition.

New countywide levies have not performed well in the last few elections such as the Lorain County Crime Lab levy, but Green said LCCC’s levy is not really new. If it’s not renewed, Green said the college would not be able to keep with the economy’s pace of change, but it would also make the college thin out the programs it offers.

“It strips out an existing core base of funding that we’ve had in place since 1963,” Green said. “We would have to cut existing programs and services. ... There’s no way we could be the same institution we are today without this base of funding.”

About 23 entities across the county have endorsed Issue 17, with Elyria City Council becoming the latest to do so.

Contact Laina Yost at 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com.

Prosecutor Democratic primary J. D. Tomlinson Dennis P. Will

9th District Democratic primary Marcy Kaptur Peter Rosewicz

LIST OF ISSUES 2 Avon Lake City Renewal / 1.5 mills for current expenses 5 years 3 Elyria City 2-D Local Option Sunday Sales C Supermarket 4 Elyria City 6-B Local Option Sunday Sales Elyria Food Mart 5 North Ridgeville City Renewal / 1.95 mills Police 5 years 6 North Ridgeville City Renewal / 1.9 mills Fire 5 years 7 North Ridgeville City Renewal / 1.9 mills Roads and Bridges 5 years 8 Columbia Twp. Replacement With Inc. / 1.0+.06=1.06mills Fire and EMS 5 years 9 Rochester Twp. Renewal / 2.0 mills Fire and EMS 5 years 10 Sheffield Twp. Renewal / 0.5 mill Ambulance and EMS Service 5 years 11 Amherst Public Library Additional / 0.73 mill Amherst Public Library Improvement Bond 15 years 12 Avon Public Library Additional / 2.0 mills Avon Public Library

Current Exp & Construction 20 years 13 N. Ridgeville City School District Substitute / 11.72 mills Necessary Requirements of the School District 10 years 14 Olmsted Falls City School District Additional / 8.9 mills Current Expenses Continuous 15 Wellington Community Fire District Replacement / 2.75 mills Fire Department Purposes 5 years 16 Wellington Exempted Village School District Additional / 1.89 mills & 1 mill School Improvement Bonds 37 years & Continuous 17 Lorain County Community College Renewal with Inc. / 1.8+0.5 = 2.3 mills Education, Job Prep, Technology, Operations and Improvements 10 years

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PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

13

ANALYSIS: U.S. PRESIDENT

AP FILE PHOTO

From left, Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; former Vice President Joe Biden; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; participate in a Democratic presidential primary debate Feb. 19 in Las Vegas, hosted by NBC News and MSNBC.

Dems are on a perilous course as they seek a nominee to challenge Trump Dan Balz The Washington Post

In their quest to find a challenger to oppose President Donald Trump, Democrats are on a perilous course. Less than a month into the primary-caucus calendar, they risk an acrimonious split in their ranks and the threat of a contested national convention that together could sink their hopes of winning in November. There seems no easy path forward.

That the Democratic nomination campaign has come to this was never in anybody’s calculus, certainly not as the party made the turn from its success in retaking the House during the 2018 midterms and looked ahead to 2020.

A confluence of factors brought the party to this point, among them the record-large field of candidates, the underperformance of former vice president Joe Biden, the post-heart attack revival of Bernie Sanders

and an electorate united in trying to defeat Trump but fractured over who can do that and the hangover from impeachment.

A year ago, the size of the Democratic field was being celebrated as a sign of the party’s vibrancy, energy and diversity.

The field included more women than ever and more candidates of color in the competition. There were governors, senators, House members, mayors and business people. There were big names and no-names. Ultimately there were too many of them for most voters. More choices don’t always mean better or easier choices.

Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, who generally got the first look at the field, turned out in big numbers to see the candidates. Even the most diligent found the selection process overwhelming. Voters uniformly said they were prepared to vote for almost anyone who became the nominee but struggled to decide who that should be. They liked a lot of the candi-

dates but didn’t truly love any.

As large as the field was, Biden’s entry kept out some politicians who were considered attractive and fresh. Populist Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, said his decision not to run wasn’t influenced by Biden’s decision to run, but the incentive for him to get into the race would have been greater without the footprint of a former vice president in the path ahead.

Some people were urging Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, to run in 2020. He declined, seeing Biden as the party’s best hope.

Biden was never the perfect candidate.

Democrats who knew and respected him also worried about whether he was up to the task of winning the nomination and defeating Trump. But he had the experience of decades to claim he could settle the country and do the job. For most of 2019, the polls were his friend. Then the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire blew them up.

Biden’s collapse changed the course of the campaign. What might have been at this point a two-person race between Biden and Sanders is now a free-for-all but with Sanders at the head of the pack. Had Biden done what he needed and hoped to do, there would have been less attention given to Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, and the unprecedented spending of his campaign.

There would have been less attention to the ups and downs of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., or to whether Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., could really go the distance. There would have been some attention to former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg because he alone was performing far above expectations, but not as much. Had Biden struck early, others might have melted away.

Now all are in, tenuously perhaps, but in.

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DEMS From 13

Biden could be revived by Nevada and South Carolina or his hopes further dashed.

Klobuchar and Buttigieg will face serious questions about their candidacies if they stumble badly in the near term.

Warren has yet to translate energy and organization into votes. Her debate takedown of Bloomberg gives her one more opportunity.

The path Sanders has followed was both prescribed and unexpected. His campaign long ago plotted a strategy for winning, which included victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, survival in South Carolina and a big strike on Super Tuesday.

He is on track, and by the day after Super Tuesday he is expected to hold a lead in pledged delegates. The question is how big that lead will be.

That he has stayed on this path came only after wholly unexpected turns. His grassroots cash machine never deserted him, but still he appeared to be in political trouble through the late summer and early fall, regarded by his critics as a bit of a relic from 2016 as attention turned elsewhere.

Then came his heart attack in October. At that time, the odds of him having to quit the race seemed higher than the odds of him being where he is today. He is giving the party establishment shivers, and officials are beginning to worry about managing a national convention in Milwaukee that could go beyond the first ballot for the first time since 1952.

The Democrats’ angst comes at a time when the president, in the aftermath of impeachment, is emboldened. He is moving to purge enemies, meddle in the affairs of justice and tighten his grip broadly on the government.

His western swing, as The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker reported, was the embodiment of a president unleashed and unabashed. His approval rating in the latest Post-ABC News poll stood at 43 percent with 53 percent disapproving.

But in Gallup’s tracking, as of the beginning of last week, his ratings stood at 49 percent positive, 48 percent negative — the first time in his presidency that he was net positive.

As of Feb. 24, three Democratic candidates, Andrew Yang, Michael Bennet and Deval Patrick, dropped out of the race for the nomination, leaving eight candidates on the Ohio ballot.

Three events before Super Tuesday will shape some of what happens to the Democrats that day: the results from Nevada, Tuesday’s debate in Charleston, South Carolina, and next Saturday’s South Carolina primary.

Iowa and New Hampshire have produced surprises, and these events also could do that, including a possible Biden revival or one of the others in pursuit of Sanders showing unexpected strength in a diverse electorate.

Bloomberg, who isn’t on the Nevada or South Carolina ballots, saw his stock take a beating at last week’s Las Vegas debate.

He will try to bounce back at Tuesday’s debate in Charleston.

On Friday, he reversed course on one issue that hung him up in Nevada, announcing he was releasing three women from nondisclosure agreements.

He probably hasn’t heard the last of that issue or others that put him on the defensive in Las Vegas.

On Super Tuesday, candidates will compete for 1,357 delegates, 34 percent of all the pledged delegates that will be allocated during the primaries and caucuses. California alone will award 415, with an additional 223 in Texas and 110 in North Carolina.

Two big unknowns are how many candidates will win more than a handful of delegates that day and whether the results push some candidates out of the race.

Then the overriding question will be whether any candidate can get to 1,991 pledged delegates before Milwaukee.

Terry McAuliffe, the former governor of Virginia and past chair of the Democratic National Committee, posed the question of the hour the other day: “Who can get 50 (percent) plus one?” he asked. “Nobody has shown they can go beyond their base.

No one’s shown they can bring all the elements of the party together.”

Absent that, Democrats will remain divided and speeding toward a damaging collision.

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ANALYSIS: U.S. PRESIDENT

What is Super Tuesday and why is it important?

Amber Phillips The Washington Post

There is no national primary for presidential nominations, but Super Tuesday is as close as we get. That’s the day when the most states hold nominating contests, the most voters have a chance to go to the polls, and the most delegates will be allotted to candidates.

More than a third of all delegates for the Democratic National Convention are up for grabs on this one day.

What happens on Super Tuesday will shed some light on the big questions around the Democratic presidential primary — and there are a lot more questions than usual at this point in an election cycle.

Here’s what you should know.

is Q:When Super Tuesday?

A:

It’s March 3. It will be the first big primary day after the four early nominating states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — hold their votes.

Poll closing times vary by state: Vermont’s close first at 7 p.m.

Eastern, and California’s last at 11 p.m. Eastern. We won’t know all the results Tuesday, since tabulating votes could go late into the night, especially on the West Coast. California’s results will take days, at least, as mail-in ballots must be postmarked by election day.

Super Tuesday is a popular day to hold a primary because so many states want an early say in who gets the nomination. So they’ve clustered as early as they can without stealing any thunder from the first four states, which have deals with the Democratic National Committee to go in the order they do.

(Republicans also can vote in their presidential primaries in most Super Tuesday states, but since President Trump doesn’t face a serious challenger we’re focusing here on the Democrats.)

Super Tuesday as we know it was born out of a desire by Democrats in the 1980s to nominate a more moderate candidate, said Richard Berg-Andersson, an elections expert with The Green Papers blog.

In 1984, Democrats nominated Walter Mondale, who got crushed in the general election by Ronald Reagan. So for the next election, the Democratic Party in Southern states moved their primaries en masse to March to try to have the more conservative wing of their party chime in sooner in the hopes of boosting a more moderate candidate.

(It didn’t really work: Democrats nominated thenMassachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis who was perceived to be more liberal than Southern Democrats wanted, Berg-Andersson said in an email.)

Today, Super Tuesday is more geographically diverse and less about specific regions trying to influence the election. Rather, each state wants a say earlier and earlier and earlier in the nominating contest, for fear of being left out of the decisionmaking.

It takes some the fun out of picking if you already know who your nominee will be. Super Tuesday has swollen so much that during the 2008 election for both Democrats and Republicans, about half the states had their contests on one day.

Super Tuesdays can be decisive and signal the end of a primary, like it was for both parties in 2000, said Josh Putnam, a political science professor who runs the elections blog Frontloading HQ. “But they can also show whether things are evenly divided or evenly enough to keep primary season going for a longer time,” he said in an email.

Super Tuesday is relatively early in the primary process; there will be Democratic primaries and caucuses happening all the way until June.

Which states are Q: voting on Super Tuesday and how many

delegates are at stake?

A:

Fourteen states and one U.S. territory will hold nominating contests on Super Tuesday, to award a total of 1,357 delegates.

The states are across the country — from California to Maine — and include heavily Democratic Massachusetts, traditionally Republican Texas and Oklahoma and more in-between states like

Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia. Democrats who live in American Samoa will also caucus on Super Tuesday, and Democrats who live abroad will begin casting ballots.

Let’s step back for a moment to explain that it’s the delegate total, not the sheer number of votes, that counts when figuring out who wins a party’s presidential nomination. Each state is allotted a certain number of delegates based on a formula of population and weight in the Democratic Party. The state parties then award delegates to the candidates based on the votes they receive. The first candidate to get a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates wins the nomination.

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The Chronicle-Telegram

PRIMARY 2020

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

15

ANALYSIS

Reliability of some states’ pricey new voting machines questioned Frank Bajak The Associated Press

In the rush to replace insecure, unreliable electronic voting machines after Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, state and local officials have scrambled to acquire more trustworthy equipment for this year’s election, when U.S. intelligence agencies fear even worse problems.

But instead of choosing simple, handmarked paper ballots that are most resistant to tampering because paper cannot be hacked, many are opting for pricier technology that computer security experts consider almost as risky as earlier discredited electronic systems.

Called ballot-marking devices, the machines have touchscreens for registering voter choice. Unlike touchscreen-only machines, they print out paper records that are scanned by optical readers. South Carolina voters will use them in Saturday’s primary.

The most pricey solution available, they are at least twice as expensive as the handmarked paper ballot option. They have been vigorously promoted by the three voting equipment vendors that control 88 percent of the U.S. market.

Some of the most popular ballot-marking machines, made by industry leaders Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems, register votes in bar codes that the human eye cannot decipher.

That’s a problem, researchers say: Voters could end up with printouts that accurately spell out the names of the candidates they picked, but, because of a hack, the bar codes do not reflect those choices. Because the bar codes are what’s tabulated, voters would never know that their ballots benefited another candidate.

Even on machines that do not use bar codes, voters may not notice if a hack or programming error mangled their choices.

A University of Michigan study determined that only 7 percent of participants in a mock election notified poll workers when the names on their printed receipts did not match the candidates they voted for.

ES&S rejects those scenarios. Spokeswoman Katina Granger said the company’s ballot-marking machines’ accuracy and security “have been proven through thousands of hours of testing and tens of thousands of successful elections.” Dominion

In Lorain County: The Lorain County Board of Elections voted unanimously to purchase 12,243 backup paper ballots at a cost of 30 cents per ballot, or $3,672.90.

The paper backups are required by law to be available in the event of an equipment breakdown on Election Day, Board of Elections Director Paul Adams said.

The board also voted to spend $1,300 to buy a printer that will be capable of turning out tabulation reports of election results at a faster rate.

The board will meet one last time March 16, the day before the primary election, to consider any issues that arise prior to Election Day, Adams said.

declined to comment for this story.

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. voters will be using ballot-marking machines this year, compared with less than 2 percent in 2018, according to Verified Voting, which tracks voting technology.

Pivotal counties in the crucial states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina have bought ballot-marking machines. So have counties in much of Texas, as well as California’s Los Angeles County and all of Georgia, Delaware and South Carolina.

The machines’ certification has often been streamlined in the rush to get machines in place for presidential primaries.

Ballot-marking devices were not conceived as primary vote-casting tools but as accessible options for people with disabilities.

Critics see them as vulnerable to hacking. At last year’s DefCon hacker convention in Las Vegas, it took tinkerers at the ‘Voting Village’ not even eight hours to hack two older ballot-marking devices.

Tampering aside, some of the newer ballot-marking machines have stumbled badly in actual votes. That happened most spectacularly in November when ES&S’s top-of-the-line ExpressVote XL debuted in a Pennsylvania county.

Even without technical troubles, the new machines can lead to longer lines, potentially reducing turnout. Voters need more time to cast ballots and the machine’s high costs have prompted election officials to limit how many they purchase.

“There are a huge number of reasons to reject today’s ballot-marking devices — except for limited use as assistive devices for those unable to mark a paper ballot themselves,” says Doug Jones, a University of Iowa computer scientist who co-authored the voting technology history “Broken Ballots.”

But election officials see ballot-marking devices as improvements over paperless touchscreens, which were used by 27 percent of voters in 2018. They like them because the touchscreens are familiar to voters, looking and feeling like what they have been using for nearly two decades, and officials can use one voting method for everyone.

Michael Anderson, elections director for Pennsylvania’s Lebanon County, said “voters want it.” The county offers voters both machine- and hand-marked ballots.

“When we give them a paper ballot, the very first thing they say to us is, ‘We’re going back in time,’” he said.

New York State election commission co-chair Douglas Kellner was an early critic of paperless electronic voting machines.

But he is confident in a ballot-marking device, the ImageCast Evolution by Dominion, certified for use in his state. He said safeguards built into the machines and security protocols make a hack of the Image Evolution “extraordinarily unlikely.”

But Jones is among experts who think today’s ballot-marking devices undermine the very idea of retaining a paper record that can be used in audits and recounts.

It’s an idea supported by a 2018 National Academies of Sciences report that favors hand-marked paper ballots tallied by optical scanners. Some 70 percent of U.S. voters used them in the past two presidential elections and will do so again in November.

One state, Colorado, is banning bar codes from ballot-marking voting machines beginning in 2021.

Election administrators who reject hand-marked paper ballots as antiquated, inconvenient or unwieldy have few options beyond ballot-marking devices. That’s because the $300 million voting equipment and services industry is so insular and

entrenched.

The industry faces virtually no federal regulation even though election technology was designated critical infrastructure in January 2017. Federal certification guidelines for voting machine design are 15 years old and voluntary. The leading vendors have resisted publicly disclosing thirdparty penetration testing of their systems.

“It’s a self-reinforcing system that keeps it frozen in a place in the past,” said Eddie Perez, a former product development director for Hart InterCivic, the No. 3 voting equipment company, now with the OSET Institute, a nonprofit that promotes reliable voting solutions. “They don’t want to make any changes in the equipment unless they absolutely have to.”

The Republican-controlled Senate has refused to take up bills that would, among other things, require a voter-verifiable paper trail and require bulletproof postelection audits. Republicans say the federal government should not impinge on states’ authority to oversee elections.

Northampton County, on Pennsylvania’s eastern edge, mirrored the state’s choice in 2016 by voting for Donald Trump after twice choosing Barack Obama. Last Election Day, it became ground zero in the debate over ballot-marking devices.

The county’s new ExpressVote XLs failed doubly.

First, a programming misconfiguration prevented votes cast for one of three candidates in a judge’s race from registering in the bar codes used to count the vote. Only absentee ballot votes registered for the candidate, said the county executive, Lamont McClure. The other problem was miscalibrated touchscreens, which can “flip” votes or simply make it difficult to vote for one’s desired candidate due to faulty screen alignment. They were on about one-third of the county’s 320 machines, which cost taxpayers $8,250 each.

One poll judge called the touch screens “garbage.” Some voters, in emails obtained by the AP in a public records request, said their votes were assigned to the wrong candidates. Others worried about long lines in future elections.

Voters require triple the time on average to navigate ES&S ballot-marking machines compared to filling out hand-marked ballots and running them through scanners, according to state certification documents.

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ES&S said its employees had flubbed the programming and failed to perform adequate preelection testing of the machines or adequately train election workers, which would have caught the errors.

Election commissioners were livid, but unable to return the machines for a refund because they are appointees.

“I feel like I’ve been played,” commissioner Maudeania Hornik said at a December meeting with ES&S representatives. She later told the AP she had voted for the devices believing they would be more convenient than hand-marked paper ballots, especially for seniors.

“What we worry is, what happens the next time if there’s a programming bug — or a hack or whatever — and it’s done in a way that’s not obvious?” said Daniel Lopresti, a commissioner and Lehigh University computer scientist.

ES&S election equipment has failed elsewhere. Flawed software in ballot-marking devices delayed the vote count by 13 hours in Kansas’ largest county during the August 2018 gubernatorial primary. Another Johnson County, this one in Indiana, scrapped the company’s computerized voter check-in system after Election Day errors that same year caused long lines.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever seen an election computer — a voting com-

puter — whose software was done to a high standard,” said Duncan Buell, a University of South Carolina computer scientist who has found errors in results produced by ES&S electronic voting machines.

Voting integrity activists have sued, seeking to prevent the further use in Pennsylvania of the ExpressVote XL. Grassroots organizations including Common Cause are fighting to prevent their certification in New York State.

ES&S defends the machine. In a Dec. 12 filing in a Pennsylvania lawsuit, company executive Dean Baumer said the ExpressVote XL had never been compromised and said breaches of the machine “are a practical impossibility.”

ES&S lobbied hard in Pennsylvania for the ExpressVote XL, though not always legally.

After ES&S won a $29 million contract in Philadelphia last year in a hasty procurement, that city’s controller did some digging. She determined that ES&S’ vice president of finance had failed to disclose, in a mandatory campaign contribution form, activities of consultants who spent more than $400,000, including making campaign contributions to two commissioners involved in awarding the contract. ES&S agreed to pay a record $2.9 million penalty as a result. It said the executive’s failure to disclose was “inadvertent.”

The Philadelphia episode contradicts claims by ES&S officials, including by CEO Tom Burt in Jan. 8 testimony to

SUPER From 14

This year, Super Tuesday is even more consequential because California moved its primary up to March 3. It had been voting in June, at the tail end of the nominating process when there’s typically less at stake.

The addition of the most populous state adds even more heft to Super Tuesday; 30 percent of the delegates awarded on Super Tuesday will come from California.

No one can win the nomination on Super Tuesday alone, but doing well that day can get you a long way toward winning a majority of the 3,979 delegates up for grabs.

Thirty-four percent of delegates are offered on Tuesday. That’s more than any other single day in the nominating contest.

Before Super Tuesday, less than 5 percent of delegates will have been allotted. After: 38 percent.

Q: Why is Super Tuesday important, especially this year?

A:

Heading into Super Tuesday, the race for the Democratic nomination is still wide open. Sen. Bernie Sanders

a congressional committee, that the company does not make campaign contributions.

Public records show ES&S contributed $25,000 from 2014-2016 to the Republican State Leadership Committee which seeks GOP control of state legislatures.

ES&S has also paid for trips to Las Vegas of an “advisory board” of top elections officials, including from South Carolina, New York City and Dallas County, Texas, according to records shared with the AP from a Freedom of Information request.

Philadelphia paid more than twice as much for its ExpressVote XL machines per voter ($27) as what Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, disbursed ($12) for hand-marked paper ballots and scanners — plus ballot-markers for the disabled — from the same vendor.

Allegheny County’s elections board rejected ballot-marking devices as too risky for all but disabled voters. Its vice chair, state judge Kathryn Hens-Greco, regretted during a September hearing having to award ES&S the county’s business at all given its behavior in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

But no other vendor offered a hand-marked option with enough ballot-configuration flexibility for the county’s 130 municipalities.

While cybersecurity risks can’t be eliminated, Hens-Greco said, the county would at least have “the ability to recover” from any mischief: a paper trail of hand-marked ballots.

of Vermont and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg have finished in the top two in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and Sanders is leading recent national polling. But no state contest has presented a potential shake-up like the one this Super Tuesday could provide.

The Democratic field is still relatively big, with eight candidates. It’s possible some candidates will drop out if they don’t perform well in Nevada and South Carolina, but if not, Super Tuesday could serve to winnow the field.

The first four nominating contests in February happen about once a week, with candidates building off momentum from one contest to the next - or weighted down by a poor performance.

But with 14 states voting all at once, Super Tuesday could serve as more of a gut-check for where the Democratic Party electorate is. Voters across the country will go to the polls with the race still in flux.

Super Tuesday also offers a big contrast to the early states, particularly Iowa and New Hampshire, by allowing Democratic voters from politically and demographically diverse regions chime in.

There’s another reason Super Tuesday could have an especially big impact

The Chronicle-Telegram

Early voting is underway SHEFFIELD TWP. — The primary election is on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, but voters can already cast their ballots.

Registered voters can cast early ballots at the Board of Elections offices, 1985 North Ridge Road.

Voting hours are: n 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, Feb. 24 to March 6 n 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, March 7 and 14 n 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, March 9-13 n 1-5 p.m. Sunday, March 15 n 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, March 16 n 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 17 (Election Day) All voters affected by changes to their polling locations — some due to scheduled St. Patrick’s Day events at social halls or other usual polling locations — should have been notified as of last week, officials said. Maps to their new polling sites were included in the mailers, contained in yellow envelopes, Board of Elections Director Paul Adams said.

Signs will be posted at locations previously used for voting that are no longer being used.

The deadline to register to vote in the election was Feb. 18.

this year: Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg will first appear on presidential ballots then. He entered the race late, skipped the early states and has spent some $350 million of his own money on campaign ads, and his standing in the polls, including among black voters, has risen as former vice president Joe Biden’s has slipped.

What to watch for ahead of Super Tuesday

1.

How does Bloomberg do on the ballot?

It’s the first time he’ll be on, due to his novel strategy of skipping the early states.

He’s got momentum, from what we can tell from early state polls. But that rise is coming with increased scrutiny of his racially divisive policies as mayor and history of crude comments to women and gender-discrimination lawsuits at the company he runs. His first test will come on the debate stage on Wednesday in Nevada, even though he’s not on the ballot there.

Do Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., survive beyond Super Tuesday?

These high-profile candidates had disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hamp-

2.

shire. Biden’s supposed firewall is with voters of color in Nevada and South Carolina, the last two elections before Super Tuesday.

Warren’s campaign warns this is a long campaign and has looked to Super Tuesday states for a strong showing.

(Her home state of Massachusetts will be voting and she hopes to come in the top two in many others.) But what happens if they don’t do as well as they hoped? How do they make the case to donors if such a wide swath of voters chimed in and didn’t support them?

3.

Does Super Tuesday blunt Sanders’ momentum in any way? Since the Iowa caucuses, Sanders has been leading in national polls. But some polls in Super Tuesday states show he’s bunched up with other candidates, like Biden and Warren and Bloomberg. Sanders still has plenty of convincing to do within the Democratic establishment that he can beat Trump, and finishing outside the top three in a significant number of Super Tuesday states could seriously ding his argument that he can win a national election.