Innovating Ohio Elections: How SB 395 Expands Voter Choice and Reduces Spoiler Risk

Ohio is beginning an important conversation about how elections can better reflect the will of the voters. Ohio State Senator Louis W. Blessing III has introduced Senate Bill 395, a proposal designed to expand voter choice while ensuring the election winner is the candidate who best and most fairly reflects voters’ choices. As discussed in a recent Better Choices for Ohio webinar, the proposal offers a practical improvement intended to strengthen fairness, accountability, and representation in Ohio elections.

The proposed system, called “Top Three plus Head-to-Head Matchups,” has two simple parts. First, every registered voter would participate in an open nonpartisan primary and choose one candidate. The top three vote-getters would then advance to the general election. In that general election, voters would get a say in each head-to-head matchup among the three finalists. Supporters argue that this approach helps reduce spoiler risk and improves the chances that the winning candidate is the one who best and most fairly reflects the preferences of the electorate.

Ned Foley, Director of Election Law at The Ohio State University, said that while no election system is perfect, “If we want an electoral system that will help us deal with the difficulties of current democracy and governance, this is the way to do it.”

Supporters also noted that the innovation would improve representation and accountability by changing what candidates need to do to win. Instead of focusing only on a narrow slice of the electorate, candidates would have a stronger incentive to earn broad support and listen to more of the people they hope to represent.

Better Choices for Ohio co-chairs Gene Krebs and Sean Logan emphasized that large numbers of Ohio voters are unaffiliated and often excluded from meaningful participation in partisan primaries. In their view, an open primary followed by a top-three, head-to-head general election would give more voters a real voice in shaping the field and would encourage candidates to appeal beyond narrow partisan bases. That, they argued, could help produce leaders who are more responsive to the full public rather than only the most intense primary voters.

During the webinar, voting theorist Dr. Eric Pacuit demonstrated through the Better Choices for Ohio web app how voters would answer straightforward head-to-head questions among the final three candidates and how results could be tallied in a way that is visible and intuitive on election night. Simplicity is one of the strongest arguments: if Ohio is going to innovate, supporters believe it should do so with a method that is easy to explain, easy to count, and easier for voters to trust.

Together, the speakers presented SB 395 as an Ohio-rooted innovation. For Better Choices for Ohio, the message is clear: Ohio can do better, and this proposal will expand voter voice, reduce spoiler risk and produce outcomes that more fairly reflects voters’ choices.