News from rural America.

Midterm voters in Ohio get a protection hotline, while those in South Dakota stare down ballot déjà vu, a Michigan farming initiative aims to get more locally grown food onto dinner tables and Oklahoma hosts this year’s gay rodeo finals.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

Ohio voters, headed to the polls next month, can get help from a new protection hotline staffed by volunteers trained to answer questions or solve in-the-moment problems.

Elizabeth Warner with Ohio's League of Women Voters says specialists can identify a polling place, clarify early voting hours, and explain absentee voting.

She notes states are anticipating higher voter turnout for this year's midterms.

With all those extra voters, that's more voters with questions.

A lot of new voters, a lot of voters who maybe haven't voted in a while.

There are new laws in Ohio, so there are going to be new questions.

Meanwhile, South Dakota voters face ballot deja vu, eyeing questions they previously rejected.

State legislators added two constitutional amendments to the ballot.

One would require that future amendments pass with 60 percent of the vote, rather than the current 50 percent.

Chase Jensen with Dakota Rural Action finds it frustrating that lawmakers want to weaken voters' power.

I think the votes in 2018 and 2022 are very telling that South Dakotans hold these political traditions very deeply.

A second amendment will repeal 2022's expanded Medicaid coverage, should federal funding drop below 90 percent.

Jensen says if it passes and federal funds are cut, more than 30,000 South Dakotans would lose their insurance.

South Dakotans have pretty clearly spoken that this is not an area where they're willing to let their neighbors not have access to basic health care.

In northern Michigan, a farming initiative has two goals.

Get fresh, locally grown food onto more dinner tables and help small farmers make ends meet.

The Farm to Home program delivers baskets of fresh produce directly to residents.

Co-owner Mary Galvaneck worked on food insecurity issues in major cities before returning to her hometown of Cadillac.

Moving back here to northern Michigan, I noticed that the food insecurities that we are experiencing here in these rural areas are stronger than anything I had ever seen.

Galvaneck says the initiative helps farmers supplement their income by selling leftover produce from farmers' markets that might otherwise go to waste.

El Reno, Oklahoma hosts this month's World Gay Rodeo Finals, a 50-year-old event with a long history of raising money for LGBTQ and other local causes.

Brian Caltrato says he was struggling with depression when the sport's physical intensity got him hooked.

It's nice to share those moments of just, like, complete overwhelming joy with people that make doing this meaningful.

Caltrato competed at Santa Fe's Zia Rodeo last month, along with 18-year-old Kenzie Garcia.

This rodeo is so good at including everybody, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.