Ohio Votes on Issue 1, an Abortion-Rights Proxy
Measure would make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments As of Friday, 578,490 Ohioans had voted early in-person or by mail. Photo: Samantha Hendrickson/Associated Press By Kris Maher Aug. 8, 2023 9:10 am ET Ohio voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to make it more difficult to pass amendments to the state constitution, a contest that has become the first round in a fight over abortion rights in the state. Abortion opponents are pushing for the measure to make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments, while those who support abortion rights have rallied to the other side. The debate over the measure, called Issue 1, has focused almost entirely on how it would affect a November ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s constitution.
As of Friday, 578,490 Ohioans had voted early in-person or by mail.
Photo: Samantha Hendrickson/Associated Press
Ohio voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to make it more difficult to pass amendments to the state constitution, a contest that has become the first round in a fight over abortion rights in the state.
Abortion opponents are pushing for the measure to make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments, while those who support abortion rights have rallied to the other side. The debate over the measure, called Issue 1, has focused almost entirely on how it would affect a November ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s constitution.
Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature voted this spring to put Issue 1 on the ballot in an August special election. At the time, abortion-rights opponents were gathering signatures for their constitutional amendment, which was approved for the November ballot last month by the secretary of state.
Voters have favored abortion rights in referendums in half a dozen states since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June. They include Kansas and Kentucky, which, like Ohio, voted for Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections.
Protesters rallied in Norwood, Ohio, on Sunday to oppose passage of Issue 1.
Photo: Darron Cummings/Associated Press
Abortion is currently legal in Ohio up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Last year, after the Supreme Court decision, a 2019 law banning abortion at six-weeks took effect in Ohio. In September, a state judge issued an injunction blocking it while litigation proceeds.
Issue 1, which needs a simple majority to pass, would require that future amendments receive at least 60% approval to be added to the state constitution. It would also require citizens who want to put an amendment on the ballot to get signatures from each of the state’s 88 counties, instead of 44 currently, and eliminate a 10-day period in which signatures deemed faulty can be replaced.
Supporters say Issue 1 is needed to keep out-of-state special interest groups from bypassing the legislature on a range of issues, such as redistricting or raising the minimum wage. Opponents say it is primarily aimed at keeping the abortion-rights amendment from passing.
The state GOP, abortion opponents and business groups that support Issue 1 are facing off against state Democrats, abortion-rights groups and labor groups.
One Person One Vote, the primary group advocating against Issue 1, has raised $14.8 million, according to the latest available campaign-finance records. Two groups supporting the measure, Protect Our Constitution and Protect Women Ohio, have raised a combined $14.5 million.
Attendees listened to the speakers during a rally in support of Issue 1 in Norwood, Ohio, on Sunday.
Photo: Darron Cummings/Associated Press
As of Friday, 578,490 Ohioans had voted early in-person or by mail, according to the Ohio secretary of state. Last year, about 150,000 people voted early in an August primary.
Some of this year’s early voters have waited in lines longer than an hour, advocates and a state official said.
Dennis Willard, spokesman for One Person One Vote, said it was hard to tell how much of the surge in early voting was for or against the measure. “We’re hoping for an early night, but who knows,” he said.
Mike Gonidakis,
president of Ohio Right to Life, an antiabortion group, said he believes supporters of Issue 1 will wait until Election Day and vote in person. “Our strategy was to surge up to Election Day because that’s when all our people vote,” he said.November’s abortion measure states that every individual “has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions.” It also states that abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability, except when a physician deems it necessary to protect a patient’s life or health.
—Laura Kusisto contributed to this article.
Write to Kris Maher at [email protected]
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