Legislative leaders decided the bill wasn’t needed, tucking the special election date into the resolution that sent Issue 1 to the ballot without the money to pay for it. “This isn’t how democracy is supposed to work.”Ī group of Republican lawmakers refused to reverse course on the issue, as LaRose since has, preventing passage of a bill that would have reinstated an August election one time and provide $20 million to run it. The side that wins is often the one that has a vested interest in the passage of the issue up for consideration,” he told senators last year. “That means just a handful of voters end up making big decisions. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose testified at the time that they were bad for taxpayers, election officials and the civic health of the state, largely because few people show up. Early voting begins the next day.Ĭhronically low turnouts were among the reasons Ohio nixed August elections in the first place.
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Military and overseas voting began Friday, and voter registration closes July 10. The law’s been in place since 1912,” he said. This affects every other issue that would touch the Ohio Constitution. “This goes well beyond the abortion-reproductive rights issue that’s going to hit in November. Republican Joe Kuhn, a member of the Auglaize County Board of Elections, said the question should go before voters in a regular general election when history suggests turnout would be greater. “Whatever happens, it will set the tone for how we go into 2024 legislative sessions, what tactics, what nuances state legislatures may do to try and undermine the will of the people, and impact the ability of citizens to bring issues to the ballot.”ĭespite the significance, August’s Issue 1 could be decided by a fraction of Ohio voters. “What happens in Ohio, win or lose, will have an impact moving forward and have a reverberating effect across the country, because it’s stuck between two major election years, and it’s a special election,” she said. It’s backed by an alliance of powerful anti-abortion, gun rights, farming and business groups.Ĭhris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, said the effort is part of a growing movement in Republican-led states to weaken citizens’ access to direct democracy and will have national implications. Other brewing constitutional amendments also could be affected, including efforts to legalize recreational marijuana, increase the minimum wage, reform Ohio’s redistricting system and limit vaccine mandates.Īll of Ohio’s living ex-governors, both Democrats and Republicans, and five bipartisan former attorneys general oppose the constitutional change, along with a sweeping coalition of labor, faith, voting rights, civil rights and community groups.
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