Letter to the Editor: Reader explains reasons to vote against Issue 1
Vote 'No' on Issue 1
Since 1912, Ohioans have had the right to initiate citizen amendments to the state’s constitution. Issue 1, on Tuesday's ballot, would severely curtail this right by creating a nearly impossible-to-achieve petitioning process for citizens to place amendments on ballots as well as ending majority rule for voters to approve amendments.This would typically repel most voters — especially those who favor the GOP, the supposed party of limited government. But, seeing a reproductive rights amendment on the fall horizon, the GOP legislature saw an opportunity to rush Issue 1 to an August ballot, selling it as a measure that might stop that one single amendment from passing in November, so long as voters traded in their century-old right to initiate and enact every citizen amendment thereafter.They are doing this while claiming that citizens can too easily pass constitutional amendments. But in roughly two months’ time, the GOP legislature was able to craft their own amendment against voter rights and mandate every Ohio county to hold an unplanned election, while reproductive-rights advocates were still gathering signatures and, at the time, not even close to securing the amendment’s place on the November ballot. For being “too easy,” the road for citizen amendment initiatives seems already more challenging than the shortcuts state lawmakers use to throw barriers in front of citizens themselves.Strangely, these lawmakers do this while still claiming to be “conservative.” Needlessly expending state resources to force voters into making a snap decision about a long-standing policy is not prudent or sensible or any other description associated with the word “conservative,” so long as we adhere to a dictionary definition of the term rather than whatever definition is currently being used by the state GOP.Wherever you stand politically, vote to retain your rights on Aug. 8. Vote "No" on Issue 1.
Alex Boroff
Fremont
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Letter to the Editor: Reader urges 'No' vote on Issue 1
