Thousands of votes pour in to pick new Ohio statue

By MARC KOVAC

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

About 15,000 ballots have been submitted by Ohioans hoping to select the subject of a new statue that will represent the state in Washington, D.C., and Ohio Historical Society officials expect the final count to top 20,000 after this weekend’s voting deadline.

Kim Schuette, spokeswoman for the Ohio Historical Society, said votes can be cast through the end of the day Saturday for the next famous figure who will represent Ohio in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Museums and other sites around the state must turn in all of their ballots by the end of next week.

“Some voting locations have sent us ballots periodically, but some of them are going to return everything altogether,” Schuette said, adding, “We really want to try to get people to vote before Saturday. This is their one chance to say who they want to have represent Ohio.”

Each state has two statues in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (images and information on each are available online at www.aoc.gov).

Federal legislation enacted about 10 years ago allows states to replace older statues with new ones. Subjects must be dead U.S. citizens who are “illustrious for historic renown or for distinguished civic or military service,” according to the Capitol site. Only one person is allowed per statue, and the individual’s entire body must be included.

Ohio is represented by President James A. Garfield, “the last American president to be born in a log cabin,” according to the Capitol site. He was assassinated in 1881; his statue has been in place since 1886.

The other statue, and the one to be replaced, is former one-term Governor and Congressman William Allen, who died in 1879. He is credited with coining the political slogan “Fifty-Four/Forty or Fight.” He’s also viewed as a supporter of slavery.

A state legislative panel considered more than 90 famous Ohioans for the replacement statue before deciding on 10 finalists.

They include inventors Wilbur and Orville Wright and Thomas Edison, congressman and abolitionist James Ashley, President and Civil War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, civil-rights leader William McCulloch, Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens, space-shuttle astronaut Judith Resnik, oral polio vaccine creator Albert Sabin, abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe, and women’s suffragist Harriet Taylor Upton.

Lawmakers say they will use citizens’ input to make a final selection. More information is available online at www.legacyforohio.org.