For 111 years, Ohioans who couldn’t get politicians to listen to them have had a straightforward way to try to bring about change. They can sidestep the governor and lawmakers to amend the state constitution on their own.
By gathering several hundred thousand signatures from around the state, they can put issues on the ballot and, with the support of a simple majority, put new policies in place. Under this system, abortion rights advocates have placed a measure on the November ballot that would guarantee access to abortion in a state where restrictions at around six weeks of pregnancy have been put on hold by a judge.
But Ohio Republicans, who control both chambers of the state legislature and have sought to restrict access to abortion, are trying to make the process more difficult. They scheduled a special election for Tuesday with just one issue on the ballot: Should constitutional amendments require the support of 60 percent of voters rather than a simple majority?
To pass, that measure needs just a simple majority. If it’s approved, future ballot initiatives — including the abortion measure — will need to achieve the new, higher threshold.
Supporters of abortion rights and other advocates for keeping the citizen initiative process intact have accused Republican lawmakers of trying to thwart the will of the majority and weaken voters’ voices. Republicans and opponents of abortion have defended their call for the special election, arguing that there should be a high bar for amending the state constitution, just as there is for modifying the U.S. Constitution. They argue that voters still would have a say in state policy under their plan and contend that they want to prevent out-of-state groups from wielding outsize influence in Ohio.
In essence, Ohio voters are grappling with a confluence of two hot-button ideas: the fate of abortion rights and, when it comes to citizens’ ability to change the state constitution, the future of an important tool of democracy.
What’s even more outrageous about this is that the more recent ballot item to change the voting threshold is being allowed to “jump the line” and be voted on before the abortion amendment. That should just straight-up be disallowed, and the voting standard for the abortion amendment should be whatever it was at the time it earned its place on the ballot regardless of whatever bullshit shenanigans the Republicans try to pull in the interim.
The conservatives do love their grandfather clauses, after all!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In essence, Ohio voters are grappling with a confluence of two hot-button ideas: the fate of abortion rights and, when it comes to citizens’ ability to change the state constitution, the future of an important tool of democracy.
Proponents of the new threshold are “willing to change the rules because they don’t trust voters,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, a nonprofit group focused on strengthening democratic institutions.
Hinting at a bribery scandal that sent a former Ohio House speaker to prison, state Rep. Michael Skindell (D) told the audience that voters need to “send a message to these corrupt Republicans for trying to jam this down our throats.”
“Issue One wants to move that threshold to 60 percent needed, and so what that does is that takes the minority and gives them the majority, which doesn’t make any sense to, really, anybody,” Richards told one voter in a suburb on Cleveland’s west side.
“Constitutions do not exist for day-to-day legislating — things like casinos or raising the minimum wage or maybe trying to do something that would make it harder for farmers to run their operations … or something like this radical abortion amendment that is being considered this November,” he said.
Lee Weingart, a Republican who lost a race for Cuyahoga county executive last year, said he is likely to vote against the abortion rights measure but opposes the effort to raise the threshold for amending the state constitution.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
you ever notice that republicans are constantly fighting to keep people out of democracy?
Not a fan of the a republican party or their anti-abortion agenda, but I gotta agree that a constitutional amendment should require more than a bare majority. How else can the rights of the minority be protected?
It’s very convenient that the Republicans in rule decide to bring this up right now given the fact that the state collected enough ballot signatures to have abortion rights on the ballot for November. This is specifically a power grab to go AGAINST the will of the populace, and they’ve been brazen enough to even admit it is the reason for the special election.
This is the same party that had their maps ruled unconstitutional for the 2020 election and ignored the court order for a redraw, and have still not redrawn the maps for the state.
The reason is not for “fairness” but for keeping thier decisions in check and not giving the populace their fair vote. Why shouldn’t a simple majority be able to change the rules that govern them?
They also only got the Supreme Court to agree to their extremely sketchy August date for the election along party lines.
Really rich, lovely quote from the article linked:
In fact, the Ohio Legislature explicitly banned August elections (except in very limited circumstances) in its omnibus election law that was enacted earlier this year. Ironically, the Legislature did so at the behest of LaRose who stated that “August special elections generate chronically low turnout because voters aren’t expecting an election to occur. This is bad news for the civic health of our state.”
It’s fucking gross. My husband and I went in person to the Board of Elections to vote early, and we were heartened to see the steady trickle of people coming in mid-morning on a weekday.
The reason they’re doing it now is because there’s a petition to enshrine the right to abortion in the Ohio Constitution, overriding the Republican’s ban, and they want to prevent that.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ohio-abortion-amendment-gains-signatures-ballot/story?id=100711358
You know it’ll be impossible to change anything if issue 1 passes. It’s not just the 50% metric if one signature from all countries is fucked it’s a wash
This makes it impossible to check and balance your representation.
Which rights of the minority are we talking about here? The right to impose your religious beliefs on others?
What rights are being taken away here exactly? The vote is on keeping access to abortion. That does the opposite of take away rights. The minority is not gonna be forced into having abortions.
Quite a dick move though, that a simple majority gets to decide if every other amendment should require a supermajority.
