OH: The Most Important Vote for Abortion Rights in the U.S. So Far This Year

[RandySF]

A ballot initiative about the rules of ballot initiatives might sound mundane at first, but it’s actually Ohio Republicans’ not-so-secret weapon to keep abortion rights out of the state constitution. And next week, the measure is coming before voters in a late-summer special election that state Republicans pushed through at the eleventh hour—despite recently swearing off August elections.

Issue 1 seeks to raise the threshold of votes needed to pass future citizen-led constitutional amendments to 60 percent, instead of the current simple majority (50 percent plus one) requirement that’s been in place since 1912. It also includes tighter rules for submitting citizen-led amendments: A petition has to be signed by at least 5 percent of all voters from the last gubernatorial election from all 88 Ohio counties, with no recourse for replacing any faulty signatures.

Republicans are pushing for Issue 1 in response to a measure that will be on the November ballot, called the Ohio Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative. Ohio abortion activists want to establish a state constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, and miscarriage care. The state would be banned from interfering with these decisions and from banning abortion when a doctor deems it necessary to protect a pregnant person’s life or health.

Ohio Republicans quickly got wind of abortion activists’ ballot initiative, since it went through the office of Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose. They hoped to squash it by getting Issue 1 on the state’s May ballot, but missed the filing deadline. That left November as the next available election, which would have been too late to potentially impact the abortion initiative. So Republicans introduced a resolution to hold a special election on Aug. 8, which easily passed given their supermajority in Ohio.



https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/who-is-behind-issue-1-in-ohio.html

[True Blue American]

1. The signatures are in Abortion

Is on the ballet and LaRose had to sign it. This is the reason for his sudden change on August elections! Foiled, you crooked so and so!resolution passed, vote is not.