Ohioans: Understand the electoral issues on the ballot for November 8

My fellow Ohioans:

We have some potentially precedent-setting issues in regards to our election laws on the state ballot on November 8, 2005.  I encourage you become informed about them prior to stepping into the voting booth.  Here are some quick summaries (taken from an article (I encourage reading of this article) in The Cincinnati Enquirer). The Enquirer article also has a quick for/against summary for each issue that helps to simply the sometimes dry/difficult official language. Each issue heading below links to the official verbiage on the Ohio SOS Election site.  There is also an Issue 1 on the ballot, but that is not related to the election law changes.  The polls will be open from 6:30am to 7:30 pm on election day.

Issue 2:
Allow any registered voter to cast an absentee ballot by mail or in person at the county boards of elections anytime in the 35 days leading up to an election

Issue 3:
Lower the contribution limits from individuals to $1,000 to a state legislative candidate or county political party, $2,000 to a candidate for statewide executive office, and $5,000 to state or national political parties. Corporate contributions to political parties would be banned.

Issue4:
Legislative districts would be drawn by a five-member commission, two of whom would be appointed by sitting judges from each major political party. The rest would be chosen by the first two, or chosen by lot

Issue5:
Eliminate the secretary of state's duty to administer elections and place that responsibility in the hands of a nine-member non-partisan commission - four to be named by the governor, four to be named by members of the Legislature who are not of the same political party as the governor, and one by unanimous vote of the Ohio Supreme Court. The board would hire an administrator to do the day-to-day work of supervising elections. Bipartisan county boards of elections would continue to do their work

-Nino