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Ohio's U.S. Senators Weigh In On 2020 Presidential Contest

Left to Right - Republican Sen. Rob Portman, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown
Statehouse News Bureau
Left to Right - Republican Sen. Rob Portman, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown

Ohio’s U.S. Senators weighed in Wednesday on the 2020 presidential contest, which remains undecided. In election night unofficial results, President Donald Trump led former Vice President Joe Biden by 8 points in Ohio.

But the results in a number of key battleground states are not yet known.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who previously served as Ohio Secretary of State, urged Americans to be patient as the nation's election officials work to certify the entire final ballot count.

“Now that they're counting every single vote, including many that were cast by mail before Election Day," Brown said, "it simply takes time to process the record number of voters and early and absentee votes we had this year in many states, including Ohio.”

Referencing Trump's false claim of a White House victory, as reported by NPR, and this year's record-high voter turnout, Brown said "the system's working," noting that nonpartisan election officials are following the law in ensuring all votes are tallied.

"It's not either candidate. It's not the courts. It's not the Supreme Court who will declare a winner in this race. It's the voters," he said.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman also called for patience.

In a written statement, he reminded voters that state legislatures set the rules for elections, and states are constitutionally mandated to administer and complete the election process.

Portman's statement also reads:

“Congratulations to Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the county boards of elections, and the more than 50,000 Ohio poll workers for conducting a safe, secure, and transparent election in Ohio. It was not easy in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“And congratulations to President Trump on his decisive victory in Ohio. I think Ohio voters know he is the right choice to rebuild our economy as we work to emerge from this pandemic."

Jess Mador comes to WYSO from Knoxville NPR-station WUOT, where she created an interactive multimedia health storytelling project called TruckBeat, one of 15 projects around the country participating in AIR's Localore: #Finding America initiative. Before TruckBeat, Jess was an independent public radio journalist based in Minneapolis. She’s also worked as a staff reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities, and produced audio, video and web stories for a variety of other news outlets, including NPR News, APM, and PBS television stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She loves making documentaries and telling stories at the intersection of journalism, digital and social media.