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Ohio is having a special election on August 8 to vote on issue 1. I ask you to vote "NO" on Issue 1. Why?
Issue 1 changes the requirements for Ohio citizens to pass a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment from 50% plus 1 to 60%. Issue 1 changes the petition signature requirement from 5% in 44 counties to 5% in all 88 counties. Finally, Issue 1 takes away the 10 additional days allowed to collect additional signatures if signatures are found insufficient. Issue 1 is limiting the ability for common citizens to have a voice in their democracy. Vote NO on Issue 1.
Issue 1 only changes the citizen-initiated constitutional amendment. There have been 71 citizen initiatives between the beginning, 1912 and today, 2022 and only 20 were passed by the voters. There have been 156 legislative initiated constitutional amendments.
As you can see, the majority of initiatives to change the constitution were not written by citizens but by legislators. Issue 1 does not raise the bar to pass legislative initiated constitutional amendments which will remain at 50% plus 1. No, Issue 1 changes only citizen-initiated constitutional amendments which will be raised to 60%. Why?
If Issue 1 passes, that means a minority number of voters in Ohio will control the outcome for the majority of voters. A vote of 59% on a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment would not be enough to pass the amendment so the minority of 41% would win. If Issue 1 were applied to a football game, Ohio State 59, Michigan 41, Michigan would win!
The citizens of Ohio have had the right to work together to fix a problem, address an issue important to the people, or speak to an unwanted issue passed by the legislature since 1912. Citizen groups have worked hard to collect over 400,000 signatures from at least 44 counties by a certain deadline over the past 111 years to get a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment on the ballot.
I personally know this is a very difficult task requiring dedication and a belief that the issue is important to Ohio citizens.
I ask you to vote NO on Issue 1 to keep the constitution as is, 50% plus one for passage from 44 counties.
Vote NO on Issue 1 now by going to the Washington County Board of Elections on Davis Avenue or vote NO on Issue 1 on August 8.
Betsy Cook
League of Women Voters of Ohio member, Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens member