Court orders state to rule on senator’s residency

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered the state’s top elections official to decide within seven days whether state Sen. Jon Husted legally resides in his Dayton-area district.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections has twice deadlocked on the issue, sending it to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to decide. The high court’s ruling today comes on Husted’s request that Brunner be forced to make an immediate decision.

Husted, the former Ohio House speaker, has faced questions about whether he lives in a house in the Dayton suburbs, where he’s registered to vote.

Husted says the home is his legal residence, but he acknowledges that he often stays with his wife and children at her home in Columbus while he’s on state business with the Legislature.