Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have made it considerably harder to amend the state constitution in a major win for reproductive rights and democracy advocates in the state.
The result means that Ohio will keep its current process for amending the state constitution in place. The procedure first requires voters to collect a certain number of signatures from at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties to send an amendment proposal to the ballot and then a simple majority to pass it.
Issue 1, the proposal under consideration, would have made both of those steps harder. It would have required voters to collect signatures in all 88 counties and then required a supermajority of 60% to pass it.
Joe Biden said of the result: “Democracy won.”
It was the first time since 1926 that Ohio voters cast ballots on a proposed constitutional amendment in August. Republicans, who control the state legislature, rushed the measure to the ballot in an effort to make it harder to pass a referendum to protect abortion rights that’s set for this fall.
With a little over half of the vote counted, the “no” vote led 59% to 41%. A majority vote would have been needed to approve the amendment, which was not possible given votes left to be counted, the Associated Press projected.
“Today is a huge victory for the people of Ohio. Majority rule still stands in Ohio. The people’s power is preserved because people like you showed up and overwhelmingly defeated Issue 1,” Dennis Willard, a spokesman for One Person One Vote, the coalition that opposed Issue 1, said at an election night rally, according to cleveland.com.
“Ohioans’ support for abortion access and reproductive freedom was never in question. From defeating Issue 1 tonight to submitting nearly twice the amount of signatures needed to get a measure protecting abortion access on the ballot in November, Ohio voters have made clear that they will settle for nothing less than reproductive freedom for all,” the abortion rights group Naral Pro-Choice America said in a statement. “Republicans should be ashamed of their efforts to subvert the will of voters.”
Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat facing what is expected to be one of the toughest re-election bids next year, also praised the defeat of the amendment.
By rejecting Issue 1, Ohioans rejected special interests and demanded that democracy remain where it belongs — in the hands of voters, not the rich and powerful.
— Sherrod Brown (@SherrodBrown) August 9, 2023
That is what has always guided me. I am proud to stand with Ohioans in this fight.
The issue underscores the continued political salience of abortion since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year. Campaigns linked to protecting abortion rights in politically competitive states, like a referendum in Kansas and a supreme court race in Wisconsin, have been incredibly successful. Abortion rights have prevailed in all seven states where they have been on the ballot since last year.
The rejection also comes as activists are drafting a constitutional amendment that would strip lawmakers of their power to draw district lines and turn it over to a citizen-led commission instead. Last year, Ohio Republicans ignored repeated orders from the supreme court to draw maps that were not severely distorted to their advantage.
The rejection is a major win for the One Person, One Vote campaign, a broad coalition of good-government, labor and environmental groups that aggressively campaigned across the state urging people to reject the amendment. The contest was expected to be a low-turnout midsummer affair, but turnout actually surged during the election. The result is also a blow to Richard Uihlein, a GOP megadonor, who spent millions trying to get the amendment to pass.
“When they forced Issue 1 on to the ballot, they awakened a sleeping giant and unleashed a movement. And that movement isn’t going away tomorrow. It will continue to build and grow and to carry us through to victories in November and beyond. We thank Ohio voters for doing their homework and for going out to vote ‘no’ on Issue 1,” said Rachael Belz, CEO of Ohio Citizen Action, which worked to reject the amendment.
