Kent City Council unanimously approved a resolution this week affirming that the right to vote is a fundamental democratic principle protected by law, and every citizen deserves to participate in elections free from intimidation or coercion.
The Oct. 16 resolution, which does not carry any legal ramifications, follows the U.S. Justice Department’s Oct. 15 announcement that it will monitor Portage County’s compliance with federal voting rights laws throughout the early voting period and on Election Day.
Neither the resolution nor the Justice Department’s announcement mention Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski by name, but both follow a period of national attention on Facebook comments from the sheriff encouraging supporters to compile the addresses of Kamala Harris voters to house undocumented immigrants. Hundreds of residents have expressed concerns about his comments.
Kent City Council members made it clear it was Zuchowski’s statements that led them to act.
Council Member Robin Turner said Kent’s resolution, “little as it is … is something, and has meaning.” It documents the community’s willingness “to speak truth to power,” he said, knowing that council “has their back.” He told The Portager the resolution is a statement of principle, not a political statement.
“[Zuchowski] politicized the situation, not us. We’re just speaking to what he created. He created an atmosphere which is very chilling for a lot of people,” Turner said.
In the sheriff’s office’s first comments to local reporters since Zuchowski’s post made headlines, Chief Deputy Ralph Spidalieri told The Portager that the resolution is “an over-the-top” measure.
“If they want to put something down in writing, that’s their prerogative. It’s not necessary,” Spidalieri said. “Everybody wants to look at this through their own political goggles. At the end of the day, we’re still all Americans, and you have the right to go to the polls on Nov. 5 and vote for who you feel is the best candidate. We’re going to continue here to do a great job as we always have and we’re always going to put the residents of this county first.”
The resolution calls for the enforcement of laws that prohibit voter intimidation, comprehensive training that includes dealing with intimidation tactics for poll workers, the establishment of clear accessible channels for voters to report intimidation incidents and the deployment of independent observers to monitor polling places and report acts of intimidation.
“Intimidation at polling places undermines the voting process, discourages voter participation, and disproportionately affects marginalized communities,” the resolution states. “Voters can have confidence in election outcomes only if they can trust that the process is fair and honest.”
As Council Member Melissa Celko did in a Sept. 18 statement she read to council, the resolution also urges voters who believe they are victims of voter intimidation to reach out to local law enforcement, the prosecutor’s office, the Ohio Secretary of State’s Election Integrity Department, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and/or Ohio’s Election Protection Hotline.
“I think it’s unfortunate that it’s got the amount of attention that some people have given it,” Spidalieri said. “I wish we put the focus on missing and exploited children, the drug problem that we’re having, to try to solve those rather than try to go this route. It’s unfortunate sometimes the way that stuff goes.”
Spidalieri told The Portager that the sheriff’s Facebook posts and subsequent comments were misconstrued and taken out of context. The posts accurately reflect local and national concerns about “the immigration problem,” he said.
“What do we do with these people?” he asked. “Where are we going to put them? You finally get to the point where you say, if there’s a candidate that’s openly supporting continued immigration, at the end of the day, he made a statement and said if you want to know where to send them, send them there. We don’t have the answers. We don’t have the facilities to put them in.”
Spidalieri said deputies have conducted traffic stops that involved undocumented immigrants, so they are here in Portage County.
The resolution’s intent reflects council’s belief that voter intimidation can occur at any stage in the political process, not just at the ballot box, Council Member Heidi Shaffer Bish said.
“We are saying that everyone has a right to freedom from disturbance around politics, especially given that we each have our own voice,” she said.
Citing the days of Chicago’s political machine, New York’s Tammany Hall and the Jim Crow era, Council Member Chris Hook said voter intimidation is deeply embedded in American history. He and his colleagues are taking a modern stand against such intimidation, hoping to rebuild people’s waning faith in the democratic process, he said.
“It may seem like we’re overstating the point, but if we don’t stand up for the right to vote, fundamentally every other right after that is moot,” Hook said.
If the resolution does nothing else, Council Member Roger Sidoti said he hopes it gives people the sense that they are not alone.
“I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican, you’re Black, white, Jewish or Catholic. It does not matter. We have to fight for each other to have the right to go to the ballot box and not feel intimidated,” he said. “That includes taking someone arm-in-arm who you know is going to vote differently than you are and saying, ‘Come on, I will protect you.’”
Speaking to The Portager, Turner addressed Zuchowski’s First Amendment rights.
“Nobody’s arguing his First Amendment right,” Turner said. “The issue is he has to understand that he is an elected official, that he’s the chief law enforcement officer for this county, so his freedom of speech should be defined a little differently than that of Joe Q. Public.”
“He’s entitled to his opinion,” Spidalieri responded in his interview with The Portager. “I think we need to be careful how we want to dictate who should be able to say something and who shouldn’t because I think that becomes a big liability. I can’t tell you not to say something because that would be in violation of the law.”
In the same interview, Spidalieri said he would speak with Zuchowski about the possibility of legal action against The Portager for its reporting about the sheriff, which he characterized as one-sided and “almost harassment.”
No one at the council meeting spoke out against the resolution.
Speaking in support of the resolution were Kent League of Women Voters President Sherry Rose and Kathy Kerns, criminal justice chairperson of the Portage County NAACP.
Rose expressed the league’s “deep concern regarding the troubling actions taken by Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski.” Such intimidation, particularly from a person in power, is “unconscionable and deeply troubling,” she wrote in a letter to council, adding that Ohio’s secretary of state has chosen not to take a stand. Americans, Rose stated, must uphold the right to free expression and ensure all voices can be heard without fear of intimidation or retaliation.
Kerns thanked council members for understanding “the importance of ensuring that every American has the opportunity to vote free of voter suppression.” The resolution “shows the importance of defending the elections integrity in our city, state and nation,” she said.
NAACP members will meet voters at 1 p.m. Oct. 27 at the United Church of Jesus Christ in Ravenna to walk voters safely to the nearby Board of Elections office so they can cast their ballots during that Sunday’s early voting hours.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.