August 8 Special Election seeks to affect Ohioans rights

much tougher sixty percent. Placed on the ballot by the GOP in an August special election they said earlier this year was too expensive, when no one pays attention.

That was before the Repugs realized that voters were very likely to enshrine reproductive rights into the state constitution through a ballot initiative. The horror!

Issue 1 has everything to do with Capital Care of Toledo, the last and only local provider of abortions. The clinic has been under siege for years and years, from legislative attacks on its transfer agreements in case of medical emergencies to regular harassment of patients and clinic workers to attacks on the rights of women to make their own reproductive health decisions.

Last year’s Dobbs decision by the US Supreme Court removed a federal right to abortion, leaving regulation to the states. Now the retrograde Repugs that dominate the Ohio legislature are poised to destroy a woman’s right to choose her own reproductive health care, if only those pesky voters don’t get in the way.

Get registered and just say no

Here we are. A special election is scheduled on August 8 in a brazen attempt to raise the bar so you and your ilk can no longer exert simple majority rule, a fundamental precept of American democracy. This would make it almost impossible for voters to control policy decisions around issues like women’s reproductive health, and instead allow the Repug legislators in Columbus to run amok, unfettered by the public will.

If you would rather let the elected hypocritters control all future decisions than have any say in the laws governing the state, by all means vote “yes” on Issue 1. On the other hand, if you trust your own judgment and believe in democracy, for the love of all that’s holy, vote “no!”

No really. Get out there on August 8 and vote “no” on Issue 1.

It bears repeating. “No” on Issue 1!

For more than a century now, Ohio voters have had the ability to amend the state constitution with a simple majority, more than 50%, of the vote. That could change on August 8, when polls will be open in a special election allowing Ohio voters to decide whether any future amendments to the state constitution will instead need the approval of 60% of the voters.

Timing and effect

That change, if approved, would almost certainly determine the fate of abortion access in the state. The US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022 overturned the dictates of Roe v. Wade, stating generally that the issue of abortion access should be left to each state to enact laws, based on the vote of the people or their representatives. The High Court’s Roe decision in 1973, an almost 50 year precedent, ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protected a pregnant individual’s liberty to have an abortion. Since the overturning of the Roe precedent a year ago, attempts by anti-abortion groups have been made in many states across the country to make it more difficult for voters to approve access to abortion.

Issue 1 seeks to raise the bar on passage of a constitutional amendment to protect an individual’s access to abortion in Ohio, and any other amendment to be voted on in the future by Ohioans, by increasing the percentage of voters participating in the election from 50% to 60% going forward.

Despite challenges and protests by Ohio citizens and interested groups regarding the language of Issue 1, the Ohio Ballot Board approved the language of Issue 1 and it will be on the August 8 ballot. With a proposed higher percentage needed to amend the constitution, if Issue 1 passes, the

The language of Issue 1 :

Ohio Constitution will be harder to amend. Earlier this year the Republican controlled Ohio state legislature outlawed August special elections, stating that summer elections had historically extremely low turnouts and were too costly. Then the same legislature made an exception for the election scheduled for August 8.

Any vote to make abortion a right for individuals protected by the Ohio Constitution in the upcoming November, 2023 General Election, or any future election, will become more difficult if Issue 1, seeking a 60% supermajority for any amendment, is passed.

Changes to be “ballot eligible”

Voters should also be aware that Issue 1 seeks to make signature requirements for having a constitutional amendment on future ballots expand from the now required signatures from 44 (half) of Ohio counties, to require signatures to be gathered in all 88 counties, according to Jen Miller with the League of Women Voters of Ohio.

“My biggest concern is that Ohioans will look at this ballot language, will not understand that if they vote yes, they’re actually voting to take their own personal power and right away as an Ohio voter,” Miller is quoted as saying in media releases.

Republicans have admitted this effort is largely to stop abortion from becoming legal; Miller says it does so much more, including diminishing a voter’s choice on issues like redistricting, worker laws and bonds for funding infrastructure projects. Miller added that a passage of Issue 1 will take away the rights of Ohio voters during the August election, which many Ohioans may not even know is happening.

Ohio Issue 1, the 60% Vote Requirement to Approve Constitutional Amendments Measure is on the ballot in Ohio as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on August 8, 2023.

A “yes” vote supports amending the Ohio Constitution to:

• require a 60% majority from voters to approve a constitutional amendment;

• require initiative petitions proposing a constitutional amendment to be signed by at least 5% of the electors in each of Ohio’s 88 counties, rather than in 44 counties, though still require signatures from 10% of the electors that have voted for governor in the previous gubernatorial election; and

• remove the 10 day period for petitioners to gather additional signatures for a constitutional amendment if they filed an insufficient amount of signatures.

Hildo responds: Due to word count concerns and ambitious editing the words “should have” must have been inadvertently cut from the printed column text.

You kiddos all know that truth has a certain fluidity when it comes to City Politics.”

-Hildo

A “no” vote opposes amending the Ohio Constitution regarding constitutional amendments, thus upholding the status quo of requiring a simple majority (50.01%) from voters to approve a constitutional amendment, requiring initiative petitions proposing a constitutional amendment to both be signed by at least 10% of the electors that have voted for governor in the previous gubernatorial election and 5% of the electors in 44 counties, and keeping the 10 day period for petitioners to gather additional signatures for a constitutional amendment if they filed an insufficient amount of signatures.