[ Big Cities, Suburbs, and Many Rural Counties Voted Down Issue.1,
the special election - hot August, a first, saw a 38% turnout - high
for a special election, with over 3 million votes, with 652,000 votes
from early or absentee voters.]
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OHIO ISSUE 1 FAILS: BIG CITIES, SUBURBS, MANY RURAL COUNTIES VOTED
DOWN ISSUE  
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Sarah Szilagy
August 9, 2023
NBC 4 (WCMH -Columbus)
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_ Big Cities, Suburbs, and Many Rural Counties Voted Down Issue.1,
the special election - hot August, a first, saw a 38% turnout - high
for a special election, with over 3 million votes, with 652,000 votes
from early or absentee voters. _

Aug 8, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; People celebrate the defeat of
Issue 1 after early results were announced during an election night
party at the Columbus Fire Fighters Local 67, (Adam Cairns/Columbus
Dispatch),

 

Ohioans have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to make it more
difficult for citizens to amend the constitution, the Associated Press
has projected.

The only item on voters’ ballots Tuesday was Issue 1, a
Republican-led, legislature-initiated amendment to Ohio’s
constitution that would raise the threshold for future constitutional
amendments to become law. Nearly 700,000 Ohioans voted early
[[link removed]],
and many more were expected to descend on polling locations to decide
whether it is time to change a 111-year-old provision of the state’s
main governing document.

Issue 1 would have raised the bar for constitutional amendments to
pass to 60%, instead of a simple majority. It also would have enacted
stricter signature requirements to put citizen-initiated amendments on
the ballot in the first place; petitioners would have had to gather
signatures from 5% of voters in each of Ohio’s 88 counties, a steep
jump from the present 44-county requirement.

Issue 1 also eliminated a 10-day cure period petitioners have to
gather more signatures if they failed to meet the signature
requirement.

Shortly after 8 p.m., opponents of Issue 1, including Ohio AFL-CIO,
Innovation Ohio, the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio Senate
Democratic Caucus, began declaring victory.

“The defeat of Issue 1 will go down in history as a victory for our
state and democracy,” Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio said in
a statement. “Ohioans saw through the despicable attempt to silence
voters and chose to preserve majority rule.”

Just before 9:45 p.m., Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts
Hill) acknowledged Issue 1’s defeat — while looking toward the
abortion rights vote in November.

“The people of Ohio have spoken. It is now time to turn our
attention to November,” Stephens said in a statement. “As a 100%
pro-life conservative, we must defeat Issue 1 on November 7 to stop
abortion from being a part of our state’s constitution.”

In a statement, Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, reflected on
the hasty process that brought Issue 1 to voters’ ballots less than
90 days before the election.

“For the entirety of this year, politicians supporting Issue 1
ignored the will of the people in the legislative process,
flip-flopped on their ruling not to hold August special elections,
costing tax-payers millions of dollars, and spread misinformation and
lies from start to finish,” Burga said. “In the end, voters would
not be fooled by this unprecedented, corrupt attempt to silence our
voice.”

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, in a statement and before the
press Tuesday night, also looked to the tight turnaround — as a
detriment to Issue 1.

“This was a heavy lift and we needed ‘all hands-on deck,’ which
disappointingly we didn’t have,” Huffman said in a statement.

Why did we hold a special election?

The vast majority of Ohioans weren’t supposed to have things to vote
on in August. 

The General Assembly passed sweeping voting reform legislation
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December that implemented a new photo identification law and
eliminated most August special elections. The elimination of August
special elections was a bipartisan reform and was supported by county
boards of elections due to high costs, high workloads and low turnout.

But in May, Republican state legislators, with the blessing of
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted to hold an August special
election
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Issue 1.

“Attempting to amend Ohio’s Constitution is a lucrative business,
and monied interests see Ohio as an easy mark,” Ohio State Rep.
Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said when the House voted. “Enough’s
enough.”

The election cycle has proven to be an intense one, with both
supporters and opponents raking in millions of dollars in
funding, mostly from out of state
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Many of those dollars have gone to aggressively run campaign
advertisements
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Who voted yes?

Supporters of Issue 1, including LaRose and other Republican elected
officials, argued that requiring a supermajority to pass amendments
would have protected the constitution from undue, outside influence.
The 88-county requirement, supporters contended, ensured that only
widely bipartisan provisions are added.

Issue 1 was endorsed by the Ohio Right to Life, Ohio Chamber of
Commerce, Buckeye Firearms Association, Ohio Farm Bureau and Ohio
Restaurant Association, among other organizations
[[link removed]].

The not-so-unspoken reason behind the Republican push to get Issue 1
on the ballot – and into the constitution – is that it would have
made it more difficult for an impending abortion rights amendment to
pass. The amendment, which would protect the right to abortion up
until fetal viability and for the health and safety of the pregnant
person, was certified in late July
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be voted on in November.

LaRose told voters
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June that Issue 1 was “100% about keeping a radical, pro-abortion
amendment out of our constitution.”

With the defeat of Issue 1, the abortion rights amendment’s path to
becoming law has become a bit clearer. The amendment’s fate,
however, is pending an Ohio Supreme Court decision on whether the
language of the amendment follows necessary requirements
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Who voted no?

Opponents of Issue 1, including Democratic lawmakers, abortion rights
groups, voting rights organizations and former Republican state
officials
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repeatedly called Issue 1 “unnecessary, unfair and undemocratic
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Organizations that opposed Issue 1
[[link removed]] include the League of
Women Voters of Ohio, Rank the Vote Ohio, Protect Choice Ohio, the
ACLU of Ohio and Ohio’s Fraternal Order of Police.

House Minority Leader Allison Russo described the initiative
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a power-grab by conservative lawmakers to further cement their
supermajority across Ohio’s three branches of government. To
opponents, the citizen-initiated amendment process serves as a
referendum on politicians who ignore the will of voters.

Issue 1 opponents and abortion rights advocates argue the will of
voters is to enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s constitution.
A slate of polls
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that assertion, with anywhere from 54% to 58% of Ohio voters
supporting the abortion rights amendment.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Ohioans United for Reproductive
Rights, the coalition behind the abortion rights amendment, called
Issue 1 an attack on Ohio’s democracy — and pointed toward an
immediate pivot to focus on the November election.

“Ohioans still have a voice and an opportunity this November to
ensure families have the freedom to make decisions that are best for
them, free from government meddling and interference,” the
spokesperson said.

* Ohio
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* abortion
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* abortion rights
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* Women
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* women's rights
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* war on women
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* MAGA
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* Donald Trump
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* Ron DeSantis
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* Right-wing agenda
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* attack on democracy
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* Fascism
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* 2024 Elections
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