brian stewart
Ohio Republicans choose to fight abortion amendment the hard way
Earlier this month the Ohio Republican Party central committee met in a downtown Columbus ballroom. The state party has a lot to celebrate. Republicans across the country underwhelmed in 2022, but not in Ohio. The GOP carried the big-ticket statewide races, won every state supreme court race and two ballot measures. But the prevailing mood […]
Ohio lawmakers send 60% supermajority amendment to the ballot
Wednesday, Ohio House lawmakers voted 62-37 to advance a resolution asking voters to raise the passage threshold for constitutional amendments. The vote caps off nearly six months of legislative wrangling largely meant to hobble an abortion rights amendment. Lawmakers are entering questionable legal territory, however, as they set the vote in August through the resolution […]
Supermajority roadmap: Backers have until Wednesday to get 60% amendment on August ballot
It’s a big week for lawmakers attempting to raise the threshold for constitutional amendments in an August special election. The House could vote on a joint resolution sending the question to the ballot as soon as Wednesday. But the legislation setting up the August election is in limbo. Lawmakers in the House and the Senate […]
Ohio abortion foes are banking on a low-turnout August election. In Kansas, that didn’t go so well.
Supporters of the push to make it a lot harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution have given many, sometimes-inconsistent reasons for wanting to do it. But clearly a major one is to try to block an abortion-rights amendment that is currently in the works. To pull off the maneuver, abortion opponents are trying […]
Ohio House committee narrowly advances 60% supermajority provision despite opposition
In an Ohio House committee, witnesses pleaded with lawmakers to reject the effort to install a 60% threshold for future constitutional amendments. The joint resolution they’re considering would put the question to voters on an upcoming ballot. After breaking for an extended recess around lunch time, lawmakers heard more testimony and voted to advance the […]
Billionaire backing effort to raise Ohio amendment threshold funded election deniers, Jan. 6 rally
An out-of-state donor who wants to make it a lot harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution has a history of supporting candidates who falsely deny the results of the 2020 presidential election — and he's a major supporter of a group that helped organize the rally on Jan. 6, 2021 that led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of five former attorneys general on Monday added their names to a swelling group that is opposed to the move. They join four former governors — two Republicans and two Democrats — more than 200 groups of all political stripes, and a group representing the state's election workers have all come out in opposition to the plan.
Answering viewer questions about the Ohio proposal meant to stop abortion from becoming legal
OCJ/WEWS readers and viewers have sent in dozens of questions about the GOP proposal to make it more difficult to amend the Ohio Constitution. This resolution is being streamlined to an August special election and is meant to stop abortion from becoming legal, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers say. This is a complicated situation, so […]
Poll: majority of GOP lawmakers want to cut voter access to Ohio Constitution
A majority of Ohio’s Republican lawmakers want to make it harder for voters to amend the state Constitution. But significantly fewer think it’s something Ohioans would support at the polls, according to a Gongwer-Werth poll published on Friday. Some Ohio House Republicans — and Secretary of State Frank LaRose — are reviving a measure that […]
Ohio SOS gives yet another reason to make it a lot harder for voters to amend Constitution
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Wednesday offered another rationale for making it much more difficult for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution. Now he’s saying it’s needed to fight a possible power grab like one that grew out of a massive bribery and money-laundering scandal. But LaRose didn’t mention in his op-ed that […]
Constitutional amendments and initiated statutes: one question or two?
During the most recent hearing for SJR 2 — the Ohio Senate resolution to establish a 60% supermajority for constitutional amendments — Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, made an interesting assertion. “I personally — not speaking on behalf of any other senator or the caucus — am not opposed to a conversation to make the statutory […]
Revived measure to require 60% for Ohio constitutional amendments gets first hearing
More than a dozen people milled around in crypt-like hallways of the Statehouse basement Wednesday morning. They’d shown up almost an hour early for the first hearing of Ohio House Joint Resolution 1, a proposal which would require 60% of the vote to pass constitutional amendments. Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, brought forward a similar proposal […]
How the bid to make it harder to amend Ohio’s constitution fell apart
Just before lawmakers took off for Thanksgiving last year, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, held a press conference. Details ahead of time were scant, but the advisory promised “reforms which will better protect Ohio’s constitution.” What they unveiled would dominate the chaotic final weeks of the lame duck legislative […]