Issue 1 smells. A “no” vote will send message to out-of-control Ohio lawmakers| Thomas Suddes

Thomas Suddes
Updated ·4 min read
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Jul 8, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Alex Baker wears a shirt advocating against Issue 1 made by Ohio House Democrats as volunteers gather at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 683 union hall to write postcards and pick up shirts and yard signs before going out and knocking doors to encourage people to vote against Issue 1 in the August special election.

Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. tsuddes@gmail.com

Ohioans are now voting on State Issue 1, which, if ratified, would make it nearly impossible for the state’s voters to amend the Ohio Constitution.

Voting “no” on Issue 1 is a vote to uphold the public interest. Voting “yes” is a vote for special interests — and the chokehold they have on the Ohio Statehouse.

Thomas Suddes
Thomas Suddes

Issue 1 is so smelly that four former governors — two Republicans and two Democrats —oppose it: Former Govs. Bob Taft, Ted Strickland, John R. Kasich and Richard F. Celeste. Also opposing Issue 1 are five former Ohio attorneys general — two Republicans and three Democrats.

Issue 1 is a scheme by Statehouse operators and their enablers, who fear that fed-up Ohioans will use their power as citizens to bypass an unresponsive, gerrymandered General Assembly.

That’s the same simon-pure legislature that helped enable the $61 million House Bill 6-FirstEnergy scandal, and the virtuous legislature that has yet to repeal HB 6 altogether, even though the House’s former Republican leader is serving 20 years in the jug for engineering the HB 6 affair.

How would passage of Issue 1 on the August 8 Ohio Special Election ballot change the way voters get constitutional amendments on the ballot?
How would passage of Issue 1 on the August 8 Ohio Special Election ballot change the way voters get constitutional amendments on the ballot?

Issue 1 would cheat Ohio voters in three ways:

  • Since 1912, Ohioans have been able to ratify a proposed state constitutional amendment with a simple majority — 50% plus 1 — of those voting on it. Issue 1 would require an amendment to draw a “yes” vote of at least 60%.

  • Issue 1 would make it harder — arguably, nearly impossible — for Ohioans to petition to place a proposed amendment on the ballot. Now, backers of a proposed amendment must gather a specified percentage of voter signatures in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Issue 1 would require gathering that specified percentage in all 88 counties.

  • Then this: Now, if petitioners come up short of the necessary number of signatures —currently, 413,487 (10% of the votes cast in the last governor’s election) — petitioners are granted 10 days to gather the needed signatures (the so-called “cure period”). Issue 1 would abolish the cure period.

Of course, there’s an agenda here, but the backers of Issue 1 aren’t advertising it. Issue 1 was crafted to block an abortion-rights amendment that’s being proposed for Ohio’s November statewide ballot.

How so? Well, in four of the states whose voters ratified abortion rights amendments in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling, the “yes” vote on those amendments came in at under 60%: Kansas, 59%; Michigan, 56.7%; Kentucky, 52.4%; and Montana, 52.6%.

So, no coincidence, Issue 1 would set a 60% floor on “yes” votes when Ohioans consider future constitutional amendments. And as Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Ohio’s chief elections officer, has conceded, Issue 1 is “100%” about abortion.

If voters approve Issue 1, then a November abortion-rights amendment would require a “yes” vote of at least 60% to become part of the Ohio Constitution.

The 50% requirement has been good enough for more a century. Not now: Republican legislators owe the anti-abortion lobby big time.

But access to abortion isn’t the only target of Issue 1. So is an anti-gerrymandering amendment likely to surface in 2024. “Gerrymandering” means rigging the boundaries of General Assembly and congressional districts to make it easier for one party or the other to capture them.

Republicans have gerrymandered Ohio for that very reason, meaning many General Assembly and congressional races are decided in GOP primaries, where the zanier the candidate, the better her or his prospects for landing in Columbus or Washington. (Sure, Democrats could do the same, but the last time they controlled both the state Senate and Ohio’s House was in 1983-84 — 40 years ago.)

And the Statehouse’s GOP leaders couldn’t care less what courts say about rigged districts. An effective 2024 anti-gerrymandering amendment would help end Statehouse business-as-usual. That’s precisely what insiders fear and why they are so determined to weaken voters’ power via Issue 1,

Voting “no” on Issue 1 sends a message to an out-of-control General Assembly: Enough, ladies and gentlemen, is enough.

Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. tsuddes@gmail.com

Make a plan and vote.

Jul 11, 2023; Columbus, OH, USA; A steady stream of voters comes and goes on the first day of early voting for issue 1.
Jul 11, 2023; Columbus, OH, USA; A steady stream of voters comes and goes on the first day of early voting for issue 1.

Visit www.ohiosos.gov or call your county board of elections to register to vote, check to see if you are registered or change your registration information.

Polls will open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on election day, August 8.

Early in-person voting hours for the August 8 special election.

Visit www.ohiosos.gov/elections/voters/toolkit/early-voting/ for voting locations in your county.

July 17 to 21 — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

July 24 to 28 — 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.

July 31 — 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

August 1 — 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.

August 2-4 — 7:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.

August 5 — 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

August 6 — 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Suddes: Issue 1 stinks. Your ‘no’ vote will send message to Ohio lawmakers