Two Statehouse bills in the last legislative session that would have prevented a recurrence of a one-candidate special congressional primary — which cost taxpayers more than $340,800 — didn’t have the time for the Ohio House to take action. Now similar bills will be introduced by next month in the new legislative session. “That’s a lot of money for an uncontested race,” said Ohio Rep. Wes Retherford, R-Hamilton, who will jointly sponsor a new bill with Ohio Rep. Dorothy Pelanda. Retherford attempted to introduce a similar bill last year, but Pelanda’s was introduced first. Pelanda, R-Marysville, called that “a very unique circumstance” and introduced a bill just days after Ohio Sen. Frank LaRose, R-Hudson introduced a similar bill.
Pelanda and Retherford now partner and jointly introduce similar legislation as the new two-year general assembly begins. Pelanda and Retherford both said the Ohio House just “ran out of time” to get either House Bill 591 or Senate Bill 347 through committees and on the House floor for a vote. Senate Bill 347 received unanimous support from the Ohio Senate.
The issue arose when congressional candidate Corey Foister decided to withdraw in late July 2016 from the 8th Congressional District race to be decided in the general election. That decision set in motion state protocols, and included Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted calling for a special election to replace Foister on the general election ballot.
Full Article: Lawmakers try again to eliminate unnecessary elections.