This is one of the very few political issues in our time where you see movement toward consensus, and most of that movement is coming from elected Republicans and their conservative voters. I care about this issue for three reasons. First conservatives do care about criminal justice reform that is implemented and executed in an efficient way - that is certainly not the case with the capital punishment. We believe in conserving and protecting taxpayer dollars, this is one of the biggest wastes that could go to other priorities that we hold dear. And the third is I'm a christian, I believe in the sanctity of human life. One wrongful death at the hands of the government is unthinkable, and it has to stop.

Josh Culling, Conservative Operative

Conservatives are very distrustful of big government, and to give government the power over life and death is rather concerning to a lot of us. We believe that the sanctity of life should be protected more than anything else, and when you give the government the power over life we've given them the ultimate power and we've soon throughout history where giving the government that much power can have devastating effects.

Laura Lanese, OH House of Representatives

In the summer of 1998, I was selected as a juror in a double homicide trial out of Hamilton County. A trial in which I ultimately voted for the death penalty. 20 years later I wrote a letter to Governor Kasich asking him to use his clemency power to commute this sentence. My experience left me with the feeling that even if a defendant deserves death, we're just really bad at administering the system.

Ross Geiger, Former juror for Ohio capital murder case

I am here today because I got a phone call on June 21st, 2017 that changed me forever. It was a friend of mine informing me that my dad had been murdered. Every step of this process has a brutal - emotional and psychological - impact on family members of victims. I'm forced to relive everything over and over again while waiting on closure. Does this sound like justice? The death penalty needs to stop now.

Jonathan Mann, Victim Family Member

You look at this list we've released today, look at the significant former (Republican) officeholders are - governor, attorney general, congressman - and then look at the activists, the people I've worked with to twenty years to elect presidents, governors, congressmen, and everybody in between - that list that was released today, I'll go to war with that list any day because all we do, and have done, is win.

Mike Hartley, Republican Operative & President of Swing State Strategies

The moral justification I had for voting for the death simply no longer exists.

Mike DeWine, Governor of Ohio

I’ve heard all the justifications — deterrence, support for victims, cost savings...those misguided arguments act as a smoke screen for the profound flaws that mark capital punishment.

Jim Petro, Former Ohio Attorney General

I believe there is a better way to deliver justice and punish those who commit the most heinous of crimes...by executing their freedom, not their lives.

Ohio State Senator Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester