Board of Elections ripe for diversity

Don Mooney

Clifton resident Don Mooney is a retired labor attorney and a member of the Enquirer's Board of Contributors.

Don Mooney

President Trump’s “Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” is getting warmed up in Washington, D.C, tracking down the millions of voters he says voted unlawfully for his “crooked” opponent. The Trump Commission makes our eyes turn to all those local election officials who count our votes. Can we really count on them?

Look no further than the Hamilton County Board of Elections. Our county’s population is about 30 percent African-American, and 50 percent female. But presiding at the Board’s new Norwood headquarters are the same four white guys who have occupied those seats for a good chunk of this century: Republicans Alex Triantafilou and Charles “Chip” Gerhardt, and Democrats Tim Burke and Caleb Faux.

The only black member in memory was Republican Todd Ward, a former Cincinnati Council candidate, who served from 2002-06. What about women? You have to go back to 1982-85, when Pam Swafford, a longtime staffer at Democratic headquarters, sat on the elections board. She was the first and only female board member. That glass ceiling was re-glazed more than 30 years ago.

Ohio relies on the political parties to pick the folks in charge of our elections. The central committees of the two major political parties each nominate two candidates for the county elections board. The Secretary of State typically appoints the nominees of the two parties, absent scandal or indictment.

Local elections board members have a lot of power over whether, when and how we can vote. They decide challenges to voter qualifications, hours, locations and procedures for early voting, where polling places are located, and how many voters will be included in precincts. They can make voting easy or an ordeal.

Should the board reflect the diversity of our county? I would argue they should. Yes, Alex, Chip, Tim or Caleb do a competent job as board members. But, as one example, it’s hard to imagine that an African-American member would have been quite as enthusiastic about moving the only early voting location out of the city center to Norwood.

Sadly, Hamilton is the only one of Ohio’s large urban counties with an all-white-guy Board or Elections. In Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Attorney Inajo Chapell, an African-American female, has served on their board since 2007. She was preceded on the Cuyahoga County Board by Jane Sheets, an African-American appointed in 1975, who served for many years.

In Franklin County (Columbus), Kimberly Marinello, a white female Democrat now serves on the board. She was preceded by Bill Anthony, then the African-American chair of the County Democratic Party.

In Montgomery County (Dayton), there are two women on the board, one white and one African-American. In Lucas County (Toledo), African-American Democratic member Brenda Hill serves alongside three white males.

Maybe it’s not surprising that in Ohio’s major counties, the GOP, more often than not, stocks elections boards with white male party poobahs. It’s harder to understand why our local Democratic Party has never appointed an African-American to the board and has not nominated a woman to the board in this century. Democrats rely to an extraordinary degree on black and female voters to win elections. So where are the female or African-American board members?

It’s said that the local party relies on the money paid for board service to help compensate for party work. Board member Burke is the longtime county chair. Board member Faux staffs the local Democratic Party office. Taxpayers pay board members about $21,540 per year. That’s hardly chump change for attending maybe 20 meetings a year. Plus, you get free munchies and bottomless caffeine on election days!

But should the public subsidize the incomes of party bosses to perform party duties? And aren’t there other ways to pay Caleb or Tim for their party work? If Mayor Cranley can raise millions to seek re-election, can’t he let some of the crumbs fall off the table into his party’s coffers?

I know what some of you are thinking. Are there really “qualified” female of black Democrats who could replace either Tim or Caleb? Believe it or not, there are plenty of highly qualified candidates waiting in the wings.

What about former mayors Mark Mallory or Dwight Tillery? Or former state legislators Eric Kearney or Christie Kuhns? They’ve all got the educational background and political experience to serve.

What about labor leader and NAACP President Robert Richardson? For many years, labor leader Dan Radford served on the board.

Is it asking too much that both of the Democrats’ white males make way for a little more diversity? Let’s go crazy, and think about former Cincinnati mayor Roxanne Qualls? Or UC Political Science Professor Jane Anderson, a longtime Democratic Party activist.

Of course, there’s no reason why the GOP has to let the Democrats break up the white male monopoly on our Board of Elections. What about term limited Councilman Charlie Winburn? Or former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell? He’s got the whole election suppression thing down. But right now he’s too busy on Trump’s Commission, trying to prove the president actually won the popular vote.