From the Columbus Dispatch:

Republican Jon Husted said Ohio’s early-voting period creates “incumbent protection” by going on too long, and that the rules need to be uniform so they don’t result in some counties mailing applications while others do not.

Democrat Maryellen O’Shaughnessy said the 35-day early-voting period is allowing more people to vote, but that it might be cut to 21 days to get rid of the controversial “golden week,” a span where people can register and vote on the same day.

“It is important that people have access to the ballot, and this is a good way to do it,” she said of early voting.

In the battle over who will lead Ohio’s election system as the next secretary of state, Husted and O’Shaughnessy met today at the Fawcett Center at Ohio State University in a debate hosted by the Ohio News Network. They were joined by Libertarian Charles Earl.

The two major-party candidates offered few significant disagreements but fired a few shots. O’Shaughnessy criticized Husted’s residency issue – he stays in Upper Arlington but maintains a legal residence near Dayton, an arrangement deemed proper by the Ohio Supreme Court – and questioned whether he was getting undeserved tax breaks. He criticized her vote while on the Columbus City Council to approve a 42 percent pay raise for council members.

As his opponents traded barbs, Earl lamented that political contests have come down to nitpicking. “If you’re going to get into a street fight, for God’s sakes, kneecap ’em. Don’t go around with this Mickey Mouse stuff.”

Earl said he would be the one to keep major-party politics out of Ohio elections.

“I don’t owe either party anything, and they certainly don’t own me,” he said.

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