Platform

1. Green Energy

Global warming is putting one of the largest threats to our country in full gear. We must actively fight for the environment like our lives depend on it because they do. We must close all nuclear power facilities in the state of Ohio and begin the transfer to green energy, such as wind power and solar power. We must create incentives for individuals and companies to switch away from fossil fuels. There shall be no pipelines built in the state under the watch of a Green State Representative. It is clear that capitalism and production for profit are destroying the planet and threatening all life. We must completely close down the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and prevent others from being built. We will also fight to ban fracking in the state of Ohio.

3. End Racism and Mass Incarceration

The real crime is the mass incarceration. We must end mass incarceration of oppressed and all working class people. Marijuana will be legalized and all prisoners for marijuana-related crimes will be freed immediately. Fully prosecute all acts of police brutality and violence. Honor Native treaties in the state of Ohio. We must end the death penalty in Ohio. We as the Green Party of the United States support the Black Lives Matter movement. Ohio is made stronger by immigrants and we will do everything to protect the most vulnerable in our society. We must stand to protect the freedom of religion and even the right to freedom from religion. Muslims, Atheists, Jews, Hindus, and other people of faith are important parts of American society. It’s time they are treated as such. We must enact measures to allow all undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses if they can prove their identity and pass the required tests. This will improve road safety and allow the undocumented who are driving in any case to obtain insurance. We will also have car insurance companies change their policy of charging people based on credit score, which punishes those with no credit or bad credit.

4. Equality for Women

The Ohio Green Party is an intersectional feminist party. We stand for the equality of all women. Under a Green State Representative, an Equal Rights Amendment will be added to the Ohio Constitution, guaranteeing equal pay, healthcare access, birth control access, and the right for a woman to choose what happens to her own body. We will fight to stop the attack on women’s reproductive rights and defend Roe v. Wade. Women still earn 22 percent less than men, and the gap is even more severe for Black and Latina women. That is inexcusable. We will close the wage gap and end the gender division of labor. We stand in creating a state where transgender women can access the healthcare they deserve as human beings. A corporation does not own the right to a woman’s body and does not have the right to dictate if the workers receive birth control benefits.

5. Full Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer People

The goal of a Green State Representative is to make the state of Ohio the most LGBTQ+ friendly state in the nation. This includes recalling the Ohio Constitution Section 15.11 that states:

“Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this state and its political subdivisions. This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage”

We must end this hateful rhetoric towards our LGBTQ+ citizens by adding an amendment to the Ohio Constitution saying that marriage is gender neutral and all people are guaranteed the right to marriage. The only argument against same-sex marriage is a religious one and the Ohio Green Party holds true to the separation of Church and State. We will push for better healthcare access for transgender individuals, including lowering the cost of important hormones needed for transitioning. Insulting phrases such as “gender identity disorder” will be removed from all governmental works. Within the first week of a Green State Representative, we will fight to enact Leelah's Law, created after the suicide of a trans girl named Leelah Alcorn, and ban conversion therapy in the state of Ohio. We will include LGBTQ+ non-discrimination laws statewide, which will ban the ability to fire someone or deny them housing because they are LGBTQ+.

6. Defend Our Unions

Ohio has a long, great history of labor organizations. The state has adopted a very limited right-to-work law. Labor unions add to the skill and rights of our workforce. A Green State Representative will promote union membership and collective bargaining rights for workers. A Green State Representative will fight against any and all “Right to Work” bills, which are just the opposite of what the title states. They stab workers in the back in order to bend over for big business. We will also allow labor unions in implement a card check system.

7. Grassroots Democracy

All human beings must be allowed a say in decisions that affect their lives; no one should be subject to the will of another. We work to improve public participation in every aspect of government and seek to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We also work to create new types of political organizations that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in decision-making. Introduce a bill to enact Instant Run-off Voting (IRV) for chief executive offices like mayor, governor, and other single-seat elections. Under IRV, voters can rank candidates in their order of preference (1,2,3, etc.). A Green State Representative would push to make it easier for other parties to gain ballot access, such as the Libertarian Party, Socialist Party USA, and other active political parties in the state. Introduce a bill to enact a state-wide "right to vote" law or constitutional amendment to guarantee universal, automatic, permanent voter registration, along with fail-safe voting procedures, so that eligible voters whose names are not on the voter rolls or whose information is out-of-date can correct the rolls and vote on the same day. A Green State Representative will make the state's Election Day a holiday and/or have weekend elections. Over 75% of Americans want open debates, but the two corporate parties ignore the will of the people. We fight for open debates of all parties and all voices. This also includes a promotion of neighborhood councils below city councils.

8. Youth Rights

All human beings have the right to a life that will let them achieve their full potential. Young people are one of the least protected classes of human beings, yet they represent our future. We must ensure they have an upbringing that allows them to take their place as functioning, productive, and self-actualized members of their community. Youth have the right to survive by being provided adequate food, shelter and comprehensive health care, including prenatal care for mothers. Young people should be provided the opportunity to express themselves in their own media, including television, radio, films, and the Internet. Young people should also be given skills in analyzing commercial media. Young people should be provided with education regarding their own and others' sexuality at the earliest appropriate time.

9. Education Reform

Education is the most basic human right that can be afforded to people in the United States. In a modern world, we must push for bilingual education and more advanced foreign language classes in the state of Ohio. We must hire more bilingual and multilingual teachers in the classroom. Under a Green State Representative, we will push for more Mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, or other language classes starting at the third grade. We also must expand the Teaching English as a Second Language classes to help those immigrants from non-English speaking language nations get a foot in the United States. Reduce our national debt by increasing taxes on large corporations, the super-rich, and pollution; and decreasing expenditures in some areas, especially for war, armaments, and corporate welfare, including slashing funding to the Ohio National Guard. We must solve the issue in inner city schools by hiring more African-American teachers and teachers who can speak African-American Vernacular English. We will fight to uphold the 1997 Ohio Supreme Court decision in DeRolph vs State that says that the state funding system "fails to provide for a thorough and efficient system of common schools.” In over 20 years, legislators have failed to find a solution.

10. Peace and Freedom

The main goal of a Green State Representative is ultimately creating peace. Under a Green State Representative, no weapons, munitions, or soldiers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol or any Ohio police officer will be sent out of state for purposes other than natural disaster relief. We find it atrocious that former governor John Kasich sent Ohio police officers to Standing Rock in order to quell the first amendment rights of Native tribes. ISIS and other terrorist organizations need to be starved of weapons and funding. Indirect and indiscriminate bombings by the United States helps create more radical terrorist organizations. We also must end all government surveillance on citizens and instead have the citizens monitor the government. Racist organizations such as the KKK, Oathkeepers, Neo-Nazis, Skinheads, and other organizations shall know they are not welcomed in Ohio. The sentencing for the perpetrators of racist, homophobic, transphobic, or Islamophobic attacks will be raised and groups mentioned above will know that they are not welcomed in our state. The right to free speech is no right when the ideology calls for the murder of an entire collective of people.