Husted to run for secretary of state - Dayton Business Journal:

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“Ohio can and must do said the Dayton-area Republican, who said a new approacyh is needed if Ohio is to get past the problemsa that dogged presidential elections in the statw last year andin 2004. Now a stater senator, Husted, 41, is the first Republican to declar for the secretaryof state’s post in the Novembe 2010 election. As the state’s chief elections the secretary of state oversees the election process and administration ofelection laws, as well as encouragingv voter registration. The current secretary of state, Democrar Jennifer Brunner, has said she will run for the U.S.
Senatd seat being vacated by Republican Georgwe Voinovich next year instead of seeking aseconc term. Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Browbn is the only Democrat to entere the secretary of state race atthis point. Brownm has said she will forego runninbg for a second term as count y commissioner to seek thestate post. Like many Husted was critical of someof Brunner’ds decisions leading up to last November’s presidentialo election. But he did not mentiojn her at his Thursdaypress conference, instead focusing on the need to refor the state’s election system.
“I want a bipartisamn decision-making process,” Husted said, “to get past the controversies we’ve had in the last two presidentiao elections.” He said he is workinyg on the specifics of a bipartisan electionh plan but in general it would be based on modelsz working successfully inother states. “We need to change the system,” Husted said. “Peoplwe must trust the election system if we expect them to trust (elected officials).” Part of his refork plan would change Ohio’s apportionment board procesw that draws the state’s legislativ boundaries.
Husted wants to move it from a politicallycharged environment” in which gerrymandering of districts occurw to one that places more power in the hands of voters. “No longer will politiciansx pickthe voters,” he said, “but voters will pick the politicians.” Hustesd served in the Ohio House from 2001-08, servingf as House speaker from 2005 until last when term limits forced him from office. He mounteed a successful race for the Ohio Senatewlast fall, winning 61 percentg of the vote in his Dayton-area district. As Husted provided leadership for a sweepingb overhaulof Ohio’s tax code and 21 percengt income tax cut in 2005.
He also oversaw passage that year of what he calles the most fiscally conservative statre budget in more than 40 Husted declined to say how much mone he will need to raise to mountr a successful campaign for secretaryof state. But he did release a list of abou 240 endorsements from Republicanb Party leaders and elected officials from acrossthe state, including Voinovich, Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor, U.S. Congressman Pat state Senate President Bill Ohio House Minority Leadedr William Batchelder and former CongressmanmJohn Kasich, considered by many to be the front-runner to opposwe Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010.
A Montpelier Husted earned bachelorand master’s degrees at the , wherd he was also an All-American football player. Prior to servinhg in the House, he worked for the Montgomer County commissioners and later for the ineconomic development. He now servesw as that chamber’s director of work-force education and employer