Overview:

Seven candidates will be on the ballot in Ohio for the Nov. 5 general election. This article is part of the Voters Guide produced in partnership with the League of Women Voters of the Akron Area.

Duties of the office of the U.S. President:

The president is the head of state of the United States of America, the chief executive officer and the commander in chief of all military forces.

The powers of the president are prescribed in the Constitution and federal law. The president appoints the members of the Cabinet, ambassadors to other nations and the United Nations, Supreme Court justices and federal judges, subject to Senate approval.

The President, along with the Cabinet and its agencies, is responsible for carrying out and enforcing the laws of the United States.

The president may also recommend legislation to the U.S. Congress.

Term: Four years. Limit of two terms.
Base Salary: $400,000 per year.

All candidates who will appear on the Ohio ballot are listed below, but only those who meet the following criteria were invited to respond to the League’s questions in this guide.

1. The candidate must have made a public announcement of her/his intention to run for her/his party’s nomination for president

2. The candidate must meet the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act’s minimum contribution threshold requirements for qualifying for matching funds, based on the most recent data publicly available on the Federal Elections Commission website.

3. The candidate must qualify for the ballot in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes.

Donald Trump

Republican

Campaign email: info@donaldtrump.com

Website: www.donaldjtrump.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/realdonaldtrump/

Twitter: TrumpWarRoom

Kamala Harris

Democrat

Campaign email: info@kamalaharris.com

Website: www.kamalaharris.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KamalaHarris/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kamalaharris/

Twitter: KamalaHarris

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (suspended campaign)

Independent

Campaign email: info@teamkennedy.com

Website: www.mahanow.org/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rfkjr

Instagram: www.instagram.com/robertfkennedyjr/

Twitter: RobertKennedyJr

Jill Stein

Green Party

Campaign email: press@jillstein2024.com

Campaign phone: 425-691-6631

Website: www.jillstein2024.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/drjillstein

Instagram: www.instagram.com/drjillstein/

Twitter: DrJillStein

What steps should be taken to address the high cost of living and depressed wages in America, including for families, people with disabilities and people who are economically disadvantaged?

We need an economy that works for working people, not just the wealthy and powerful. To reverse surging inequality and insecurity, we need an Economic Bill of Rights establishing the rights to a living-wage job, guaranteed livable income, housing, healthcare, childcare, lifelong education, secure retirement, utilities, healthy food and clean water, so that all of us are guaranteed the basic security for a good life that can reach our highest potential.

A Jill Stein administration will pass a $25 minimum wage, eliminate the sub-minimum wage loophole, pass universal rent control, cancel student and medical debt, end wage discrimination based on race, gender and other factors, and mandate paid sick and family leave as well as parental leave.

What steps will you take to ensure all Americans have access to quality and affordable healthcare, including reproductive care and prescription drug coverage?

Healthcare is a human right. We need a universal healthcare system that is equitable, comprehensive, free at point of service, and accessible to every single person in the US.

A Jill Stein administration will immediately implement National Improved Medicare for All as a precursor to establishing a UK-style National Healthcare Service which will replace private hospital, private medical practice, and private medical insurance with a publicly owned, democratically controlled healthcare service that will guarantee healthcare as a human right to everyone in the United States. We will take the pharmaceutical industry into public ownership to provide medicines as a public good.

We will also codify Roe v. Wade and advance reproductive rights.

What steps will you take to curb gun violence and build safe and healthy communities for communities disproportionally impacted by gun violence in the United States?

We need to end the epidemic of gun violence with common-sense gun safety laws.

A Jill Stein administration will ban the sale of assault rifles and establish a buyback program; establish mandatory waiting periods and background checks for firearm purchases; pass red flag laws for individuals who pose a danger to themselves and others; create standardized digital records of gun registrations and sales; close gun show loopholes; require firearm owners to own a high-quality gun safe to store their firearms; require firearm owners to purchase liability insurance of no less than $1 million; and hold adult firearm owners criminally liable for minor children accessing and using firearms in the commission of any crime, accidental injury or death.

What are the most important steps you will take to improve U.S. immigration policies, including creating an accessible path to citizenship?

Immigrants’ rights are human rights. It’s time to completely overhaul the broken and abusive immigration system, as well as the unjust policies driving people to leave their homes. We need a comprehensive immigration policy and properly funded institutions to ensure a timely, ethical, transparent and dignified path to citizenship for immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees. Border policy should move away from detention and enforcement response toward humane and effective asylum processing.

A Jill Stein administration will replace ICE with an Office of Citizenship, Refugees, and Immigration Services under the Department of Labor, grant amnesty to every undocumented person, and implement a path to citizenship with expediency.

What actions will you take to address the threats facing the United States due to climate change?

We all have a human right to a livable planet with a stable climate, healthy food, clean air and water, and living soil. We need a real Green New Deal to transition rapidly from an economic system that is destroying our only home to a sustainable society built around human needs and protecting life on Earth.

Our Green New Deal will invest in renewable energy, a publicly owned nationwide smart energy grid, clean transportation technology, energy efficiency and conservation to generate millions of good-paying jobs, rapidly phase out fossil fuels and achieve 100% clean renewable energy and zero-to-negative carbon emissions by no later than 2035.

We need to act now so that our children and future generations can not only survive but thrive.

Editor-in-Chief (she/her)
Zake has deep roots in Northeast Ohio journalism. She was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. Over a 20-year career, Zake worked in a variety of roles across departments that all help inform her current role as Signal Akron's editor in chief. Most recently, she was a journalism professor and student media adviser at Kent State University, where she worked with the next generation of journalists to understand public policy, environmental reporting, data and solutions reporting. Among her accomplishments was the launch of the Kent State NewsLab, an experiential and collaborative news commons that connects student reporters with outside professional partners.