Sewell: Ohio could now be a bellwether on abortion | Opinion
As the late, great Tim Russert once said, "It’s Ohio, Ohio, Ohio."
Tuesday’s special election was one of only two in the nation and drew high-profile attention this week.
After the failure of Issue 1, the Nov. 7 election will directly test voter sentiment about abortion and also be the focus of national attention with Ohio being the only state with abortion on the ballot. While Republican Donald Trump’s 2020 victory in the state, his second, contradicted Ohio’s traditional bellwether status that NBC’s Russert was referring to on Election Night 2004 ahead of Republican George W. Bush’s victory here and nationally, the state could now be a bellwether on abortion.
Although Ohio has been getting redder, polls indicate that a majority of its voters support women’s access to abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade and left it to the states to decide, which in GOP-controlled Ohio meant a ban of abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. But that’s on hold in state court.
This November’s issue would allow abortions at around 24 weeks of pregnancy if passed. It would change Ohio’s constitution to guarantee abortion access.
Voters in states including Kentucky, which last November rejected an anti-abortion ballot measure, have been expressing support for abortion access for women. Ohio, as a large state that’s swung Republican in recent years, offers a major battleground in the abortion debate.
So if you were getting worn down by the ad blitzes on both sides over Issue 1, enjoy your respite while you can. Millions of dollars poured in from out of the state for both sides, and that was just a sample of what you can expect in the months ahead.
For now, we can look at lessons from the Aug. 8 issue. One we can hope Ohio Republicans take from it is that it’s about time to start leading the state with fairness and forthrightness. After the gerrymandering-dominated 2022 state elections, the GOP decided on a new trick: scheduling a stealth election to try to change the rules on the coming abortion vote.
After earlier deciding August elections were an expensive waste because of low summer turnout, they then realized that could be to their benefit in trying to defeat abortion. The result was Issue 1, which would have raised to 60% from a simple majority the required total to pass a constitutional amendment. Polls have indicated Ohioans’ support for abortion access is at just below 60%.
Issue 1 also would have doubled from 44 to all 88 counties the requirement to gather signatures from each county from 5% of recent voters to get on the ballot.
Hence the football-based memes of "Ohio State 59, Michigan 41 − Michigan wins" and "Ohio State 87, Michigan 1 − Michigan wins" that circulated in recent weeks.
It’s not a good thing in Ohio to be associated with Michigan winning.
Despite all the claims that Issue 1 was just meant to "protect our constitution," that disguise was finally dropped in recent weeks to acknowledge it was about stopping abortion. And the closer we got to Aug. 8, the list grew to include protecting gun ownership and parental rights and fighting drag queens and secret gender-changing surgery for children.
Besides deceptive and false claims in ads, a fake newspaper surfaced around the state to support Issue 1 and warn against the hell Ohio would plunge into without it.
Impersonating journalists? Now that’s really low.
Through all the smoke and mirrors, voters responded with remarkably high turnout, at the levels of some general elections.
So take a deep breath and then start bracing for the barrage of abortion claims, counter-claims and outright lies in the three months ahead.
But at least we know the Buckeyes won’t have to score 60 points to beat Michigan this fall.
Dan Sewell is a regular Opinion contributor. Contact him at his personal email: dsewellrojos@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Sewell: Ohio could now be a bellwether on abortion | Opinion
