Ohio's early voting period opened Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Resizia/Wikimedia Commons)

Tuesday marked the beginning of the early voting season in Ohio, leading up to its March primary.

Or, as I like to call it, “uneducated voters month.”

I’m all for making it more convenient to vote, but a month of mail-in or stop-in voting doesn’t lead to a more educated electorate. The voting season begins so early now that most of us don’t even know what’s on the ballot or what’s contested.

We’re trying to do our part, with our under-construction elections page on LimaOhio.com (click here to see it). Why would I mention something that’s under construction? This page is unlike most of the things we do here. It’s constantly updated, as we receive new information. The candidates should’ve received their forms over the weekend, so we’re anxiously awaiting their answers.

Still, the early voting concerns me. Yes, people may have already made up their mind on who their presidential primary winner might be. But do they really know the difference between their candidates for county commissioner yet? I doubt it.

The monthlong voting session offers stresses to the candidates. The conventional wisdom on a local campaign was you wanted your name and ideas to be the freshest on people’s minds a few days before the election. Now, the election occurs for an entire month. It’s nearly impossible for a candidate to wisely spend campaign money to be fresh on people’s minds all month long.

Speaking of spending, monthlong campaigns only benefit incumbents and those with a lot of money.

I’d like to see Ohio adopt a weeklong voting process, including Saturday hours, to give people the opportunity to vote at their convenience while not stretching the voting season, voters and candidates so thinly.

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