Elections

Democracy only works when citizens participate. But Ohio’s voter registration can be hard for some citizens: for example, seniors, young people and renters have to reregister every time they change their address.

That doesn’t sit well with Heights resident Sue Dean Dyke. She started Mobilize the Vote NEO to connect with disenfranchised and disengaged voters, develop relationships, and empower people to participate in government. She has inspired more than 700 volunteers working in the Heights and beyond.

“You’ve probably seen us in our neon orange T-shirts,” said Dyke.

Mobilize the Vote goes where the voters are—food banks and farmer’s markets, concert lines and community festivals, HUD apartments and downtown high rises—making it easy for people to register to vote.

“We’ve registered thousands of voters. And we follow up with them to make sure every vote counts,” Dyke said.

On Feb. 19, Presidents Day, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (CH-UH LWV), in partnership with Heights Libraries, presented a free showing and discussion of the PBS video “A Citizen’s Guide to Preserving Democracy.”

The video presented a discussion between politician and author Richard Haass, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and PBS correspondent Hari Sreenivasan, illustrated by examples of how Americans are working to preserve democracy, such as the Great Lakes Civility Project.

In his book The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, Haass identified the following: 1) Remain civil, 2) Be informed, 3) Value norms, 4) Get involved, 5) Stay open to compromise, 6) Teach civics, 7) Promote the common good, 8) Reject violence, 9) Support public service, and 10) Put country first.

In the Nov. 7 election, Cleveland Heights voters elected a new council member to fill one of three seats. In University Heights, voters opted to return four incumbent candidates to UH City Council, and voters approved all six city charter amendments that were on the ballot.

In Cleveland Heights, where six candidates vied for three full-term (4-year) seats on council, voters re-elected Gail Larson (8,479 votes/23.07 percent), and elected incumbent mayoral appointee Janine R. Boyd (7,349/20 percent) and challenger Jim Petras (8,327/22.66 percent). 

Incumbent Melody Joy Hart (6,330/17.22 percent), who currently serves as council president, was not re-elected. The two unsuccessful challengers were Jeanne V. Gordon (3,604/9.81 percent) and Jon Benedict (2,661/7.24 percent).

In University Heights, nine candidates were on the ballot to fill four full-term (4-year) seats.

Click here to see the 2023 Voters Guide

Noble Neighbors will host an election forum on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 7–9 p.m., at Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Road. Candidates for Cleveland Heights City Council have been invited to present their positions and engage in conversations.

The forum’s focus will be on issues that impact the Noble Road neighborhoods, all of which impact the city of Cleveland Heights as a whole.

All voters (and young voters-in-training) are invited to attend. Those who live outside the Noble Road neighborhoods are invited learn the particular concerns of Noble residents, and the priorities and solutions the candidates offer.

In the run-up to the Nov. 7 general election, the Cleveland Heights/University Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (LWV) will host a series of three candidate and issue forums for local city council races and ballot issues.

[DATE CHANGE: After the August issue was printed, the date of the UH City Council Candidates forum was changed to Tuesday, Sept. 26. BOE FORUM CANCELLED: The CH-UH Board of Education Candidates Forum was cancelled after the August issue was printed. That race is uncontested, with two candidates running to fill two spots on the board.]

On Nov. 7, Cleveland Heights voters will elect three city council members and one municipal court judge. University Heights voters will elect four city council members and vote on city charter amendments. Two positions for the Cleveland Heights - University Heights school board will also be on the ballot.

The Heights Observer will review election-related submissions with a goal of providing fair and equitable access for those seeking office, or taking sides on a ballot issue.

Candidates for office are expected to identify themselves as such when submitting anything for publication.

Candidates' supporters and campaign representatives, and anyone writing about any candidate or election issue, are expected to disclose any personal or professional relationship they may have with any candidate, or with the subject about which they have written.

At the University Heights Memorial Day parade on Monday, May 29, democracy was on the minds of many, especially Wendy Deuring, Marilyn Singer, Kathy Flora, Sharona Hoffman, Pat Solomon and Eefje Kolkmann.

These six League of Women Voters (LWV) of Greater Cleveland members marched the 1.8-mile parade route, sharing information on new voting laws, the Aug. 8 special election, and the LWV’s position against State Issue 1. These stalwart marchers joined LWV members Janice Foster and Blanche Valancy at the voter information table at the Memorial Day Festival at Gearity elementary school.

Some voters along the parade route wondered why the LWV of Ohio had taken a “Vote No” stand against the Aug. 8 referendum, State Issue 1, which would make it more difficult for citizens to initiate changes to the Ohio state constitution.

Mark your calendars—the Aug. 2 primary is an additional election, and it is almost upon us.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (LWV) will present a Candidates Forum on Tuesday, July 19, 7–9 p.m., at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, 1 Monticello Boulevard.

Candidates for the Aug. 2 primary election for state Senate District 21 and state House District 22 will participate in the forum.

Candidates for the Democratic nominations will present brief statements and answer written questions from the audience. (As only one Republican is running for the state Senate nomination and none are running for the state House, the LWV cannot present a Republican forum.)

In the May 3 primary election, Cleveland Heights voters passed Issue 10, approving an amendment to the city charter that shifts the clerk of council role to the legislative, from the executive, branch. They voted down Issue 9, an ordinance which called for the city to build a “public activity park” in Cedar Lee, on a 1.07-acre plot that is part of a development agreement between the city and Flaherty & Colllins, the developer.

According to unofficial results reported by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (BOE), 73% of voters said yes on Issue 10. They opposed Issue 9 by approximately the same percentage, with 72.83% voting no on that issue.

On April 6, The League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland - Heights Chapter (LWV), held a public forum on Issue 9, one of two ballot issues that Cleveland Heights voters will see on the city's May 3 primary election ballots. The forum was presented in cooperation with Heights Libraries, and took place at the Lee Road branch.

Ballot Issue 9 asks voters: "Shall the proposed ordinance requiring the City to create a public activity park on the 1.07 acres of City owned land at the corner of Lee Road, Tullamore Road and Meadowbrook Boulevard be adopted?"

The 1.07 acre site is part of a development agreement that the city of Cleveland Heights signed with developer Flaherty & Collins.

A public forum on CH Ballot Issue 9, which proposes a public activity park on Lee Road, between Tullamore Road and Meadowbrook Boulevard, will take place Wednesday, April 6, 7–8:30 p.m., at the Lee Road Library, 2345 Lee Road. It has been placed on the May 3 ballot by a citizen’s initiative.

Cleveland Heights voters will vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for the proposed park ordinance, Issue 9 on the May 3 Primary Election ballot. The ballot language is simple: “Shall the proposed ordinance requiring the City to create a public activity park on the 1.07 acres of City owned land at the corner of Lee Road, Tullamore Road and Meadowbrook Boulevard be adopted?”

In Cleveland Heights and University Heights, packed local election ballots—in which voters in each city elected a mayor, a number of city council representatives, and three school board members—failed to bring to the polls even half of eligible Heights voters.

According to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (BOE) unofficial election results, with vote-by-mail ballots not yet fully reported, results in the various Heights races, as of Nov. 3, at noon, are as follows: 

In Cleveland Heights' two-candidate mayoral contest, voters elected Kahlil Seren with 6,790 votes (60.47%); Barbara Danforth received 4,438 votes (39.53%). A BOE report shows that there were 33,906 registered voters in Cleveland Heights, as of Nov. 1.

In University Heights, a city with 8,865 registered voters as of Nov. 1, incumbent Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan won re-election with 1,571 votes (48.50%).

In the Sept. 14 primary election, Cleveland Heights residents cast votes for one of three mayoral candidates. The top two primary finishers, Barbara Danforth and Kahlil Seren, will now face off in the race for Cleveland Heights mayor, in the general election on Nov. 2.

Voter turnout for Cleveland Heights' first mayoral primary election was low, with votes cast by fewer than 7,000 of the city's approximately 33,967 (as of Sept. 1) registered voters.

Mary Dunbar’s resignation from Cleveland Heights City Council on Aug. 16, effective immediately, created a vacancy for her unexpired term, which runs through Dec. 31, 2023.

After initially announcing that CH City Council members would appoint someone to the vacant seat, council later authorized a special election for the unexpired term, to be held on the same day as the general election.

On three evenings this summer, Cleveland Heights mayoral candidates met individually with a group of residents assembled by the Cleveland Heights Green Team. The meetings were planned as dialogues: candidates Barbara Danforth, Melody Hart and Kahlil Seren would each present their environmental platform. The sustainability professionals and environmental activists present would then ask questions and, hopefully, educate the candidates.

With the climate crisis well underway, the group wanted to hear that sustainability policies and actions would be a top city priority beginning in January 2022, regardless of who takes office. The Green Team advocates applying an “environmental overlay,” incorporating equity considerations, to all proposed policies and actions.

Cleveland Heights residents will go to the polls in three elections in the next four months, on Aug. 3, Sept. 14, and Nov. 2.

In the same period, University Heights voters will cast their ballots in two elections, on Aug. 3 and Nov. 2.

To help Heights voters make sense of this crowded local election season, the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland, Heights Chapter, compiled the following list of election dates and races:

TUESDAY, Aug. 3: Special Primary Election for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District in the U.S. House

In this partisan primary, voters will request either a Democratic or Republican ballot. The special election is the first of two in which voters will elect a replacement for Marcia Fudge.

[Update: The Thursday, Aug. 12, Cleveland Heights Mayoral Forum, sponsored by the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (LWVGC), will now be held exclusively online. The LWVGC announced the change in response to the increase in COVID-19 cases.

The forum will take place 7–9 p.m., as originally scheduled, and can be livestreamed via YouTube: https://youtu.be/KIvJolHFIKc, or the bitly URL: https://bit.ly/CHMayor2021Aug12. The forum will be recorded for later viewing.]

On Thursday, Aug. 12, 7–9 p.m., the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (LWVGC) will present a candidate forum in advance of the first-ever primary election for Cleveland Heights mayor. The forum will be held at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, 1 Monticello Boulevard.

LWVGC's co-sponsors for the free community event are FutureHeights and Heights Libraries.

The nonpartisan primary election for CH mayoral candidates is Sept. 14. Voters will choose from four candidates—Barbara Danforth, Melody Joy Hart, Josephine Moore, and Kahlil Seren. The two candidates who garner the most votes in the primary election will move on to the Nov. 2 general election ballot.

The Aug. 12 forum will provide an opportunity for voters to hear the four CH mayoral candidates discuss election issues. Voter registration will also be offered at the event.

In a June 22 press release, and on his campaign website, brennan4uh.com, University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan announced that he is seeking a second term.

“It is amazing how far we’ve come in less than four years,” Brennan stated in the press release, noting that he looked forward to taking his "positive campaign for continued change" to the residents of University Heights.

“For the first time in decades, we are building new homes," Brennan stated. "This year, we will break ground on a first-class townhome development on South Taylor Road. And what was once viewed as impossible is now within reach—the redevelopment of University Square.