But a “yes” vote on Issue 1 — a measure proposed by the General Assembly’s Republicans majority — is a vote for business-as-usual by a legislature elected in gerrymandered districts and beholden to political fat cats.
For 111 years, Ohioans have been able to amend the Ohio Constitution if 50% plus 1 of those voting statewide on a proposed change voted “yes.”
But Issue 1, if it passes, would require a “yes” vote of at least 60% of those voting on a proposed constitutional amendment.
The story behind that story: Requiring a 60% super-majority vote to ratify proposed amendments is aimed at a voter proposed amendment, on Nov. 7′s statewide ballot, to guarantee women the right to choose abortion in Ohio.
It’s also aimed at a possible 2024 amendment to end the gerrymandering of Ohio’s congressional and General Assembly districts, gerrymandering that has led to lopsided GOP majorities in the General Assembly — 67 of the House’s 99 seats, 26 of the Senate’s 33.
As the Ohio Constitution now stands, passing the abortion amendment in November would require “yes” votes from at least 50% plus 1 of those who vote on it. But if Issue 1 passes on Aug. 8, passing Nov. 7′s abortion amendment would require “yes” votes from at least 60% of those voting on it.
Complete coincidence: Polls have suggested that just under 60% of the Ohioans who are asked say that they support a woman’s right to choose abortion.
Also, for 111 years, Ohioans have been able to place a proposed amendment on the statewide ballot by gathering a specified share of signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Issue 1 would require signatures from all 88 counties.
And if a proposed amendment’s sponsors initially submit fewer than the required number of signatures, sponsors are granted ten more days to gather the necessary number. Issue 1 would abolish that grace period.
That’s the A-to-Z of Issue 1, despite all the double-talk by its GOP backers about out of state special interests trying to hijack the Ohio Constitution. Both sides have big, out of state donors.
That’s a sick joke coming from a legislature that routinely ignores politically inconvenient parts of the Ohio Constitution, such as city and village home rule.
Issue 1 is so rancid that four recent governors — Republicans Bob Taft and John R. Kasich, Democrats Richard F. Celeste and Ted Strickland — oppose it.
The Ohio Constitution empowers voters to directly amend the constitution precisely because a one-party state government isn’t about to reform itself.
Republicans control every statewide elected executive office and the Ohio Supreme Court; have run the state Senate continuously since January 1985, and controlled Ohio’s House of Representatives for all but two years since January 1995.
No doubt the GOP sees voters’ right to directly amend the Ohio Constitution as a threat to Republicans’ monopoly on Statehouse power.
They should. It is. And that’s exactly why the GOP rammed Issue 1 onto the statewide ballot — and why Ohioans should vote against it.
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. You can reach him at tsuddes@gmail.com.
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