August 8
How Ohio Issue 1 supporters, opponents are preparing for outcome of Tuesday’s special election
With Ohio’s controversial special election Tuesday, each side shared how they are preparing for the outcome of Issue 1. Opponents feel confident, while some supporters are preparing for a loss. Months of protesting, canvassing and ads flooding TV all come down to Aug. 8. “Never in the history of Ohio has the Ohio Legislature put […]
New voting locations pitch in for Ohio’s unexpected August election
On Tuesday, Ohioans head to the polls to vote on whether future constitutional amendments should face a heightened threshold for passage. But for some, the typical election day routine will look a tad different. To say Tuesday’s special election was unexpected is an understatement. Lawmakers scrapped such elections at the end of last year and […]
Ohio Republicans and lobbyists don’t trust a majority of voters but want us to rig the game for them
Issue 1 is about powerful Republican politicians and lobbyists not trusting Ohioans. They don’t want a majority of voters to do anything they don’t like. They don’t want a majority of voters to be able to hold them accountable. And that is the only reason they are trying to rig the game with Issue 1 […]
Author of book on Ohio Constitution warns against Issue 1 changing 111 years of Ohio voter power
Steven H. Steinglass is Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus at the College of Law of Cleveland State University. His teaching covers Ohio Constitutional History and he is the author of “The Ohio State Constitution” (Oxford Univ. Press 2022) (2nd ed.) (with Gino J. Scarselli). From March 2013 to June 2017, Professor Steinglass served as Senior […]
Instead of being a responsible elections chief, Frank LaRose is being an openly partisan hack
“One of the things I love about this work is it’s completely nonpartisan. The vast majority of the other secretaries of state take the same approach. What we do here is about protecting the foundation of our democracy.” – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, 2020. That same guy is actively campaigning for passage of […]
Ohio Secretary of State rejected old absentee forms for Issue 1, then allowed supporters to use them
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose seems to have selectively applied the rules around Ohio law to benefit Issue 1 supporters after they made a mistake by sending out old absentee ballot request forms. Within hours, LaRose announced they were OK to use, but in June, when a Cleveland newspaper printed old forms, dozens of […]
What would Ohio look like under Issue One?
One thing that has been on my mind as Ohio considers increasing its threshold for constitutional amendments is the impact such a change will have on the economy. Issue 1 is the constitutional amendment put forth by Republican legislators with the goal of making a statewide vote on abortion rights more difficult. The amendment would […]
Ohio Issue 1 isn’t about any one issue — It’s about every issue and the power Ohio voters have
Proponents of State Issue 1 frame it as a referendum on abortion to drive single-issue voter turnout in the August 8 election. For the record, Issue 1 is not a referendum on abortion or “Protecting Ohio’s Preborn,” as the Ohio Right to Life website claims. It’s about your right to have your say about abortion, […]
The historical malfeasance of equating the Ohio Constitution with the U.S. Constitution to attack it
Republicans pushing Ohio voters to strip ourselves of our own power over the Ohio Constitution on Aug. 8 by raising the threshold for passing amendments to 60% have repeatedly used historically misleading arguments about the U.S. Constitution. Never mind that U.S. Constitutional amendments require support from two-thirds of lawmakers in each chamber of Congress and […]