In Tuesday's special election, Ohioans overwhelmingly vote against requiring a supermajority to change their state constitution
In Tuesday's special election, Ohioans overwhelmingly vote against requiring a supermajority to change their state constitution
Voters in Ohio rejected a measure known as Issue 1 that would have raised the bar for constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Voters in Ohio went to the polls to decide whether to approve a measure known as Issue 1 that would raise the bar for constitutional amendments on the ballot. In the ultimate irony, the votes against changing the amendment process exceeded the 60% supermajority that the measure was seeking in the first place
I do not live in Ohio, but I am breathing a sigh of relief and sending out a huge thank you to the Ohio voters who turned out in a big way for this.
Now just make sure you hold the politicians responsible for this wildly unpopular and anti-democratic debacle accountable in your election ads.
In a rare move, I'm proud of my fellow ohioans. I was honestly expecting this to pass. I didn't think the 3 "no" votes from our house would amount to much. I sit here though proud of all those that saw this obvious BS and turned out to vote it down!
a huge thank you to the Ohio voters who turned out in a big way for this.
As an Ohioan I was to emphasize that part. There are 8 million registered voters in our state and there were 3 million votes cast in this election. Luckily the issue didn't pass but I really want to know what the 5 million people that didn't vote (you had 3 full weeks with early voting) thought was more important than preventing our Rights from eroding even further.
The easiest answer is because this was a special election in the middle of August with just one item on the ballot, which is exactly why the GOP broke their own new rule eliminating special elections in August, because they were hoping voter apathy would push them over the finish line. I'm very happy, and slightly surprised that they ended up being wrong, but I don't think they'll take any kind of lesson from this.
It took Conservatives doing what they said they would do - taking away a woman's right to control their own body - to wake enough people up to get them to the polls.
Conservatives have a whole facist menu of rights they want to take away from people. Everyone better remember that they WILL do what they say if you continue to vote for them.
Yeah exactly what I predicted has happened. People who were "pro-life" and protesting were still able to get abortions when they needed it. And they were taking advantage of that. But now their shitty decisions are actually affecting them, and not just every other woman who is a "murderer" but their abortion is different, and so they are not very happy that they got what they wanted.
People OVERWHELMINGLY want abortion to remain legal. Every time it's on the ballot people vote to keep it legal. That's why Republicans are trying so hard to keep it off the ballot or require a super majority of the vote. They know it's unpopular.
Almost 25 years old and still just as relevant today.
https://joycearthur.com/abortion/the-only-moral-abortion-is-my-abortion/
The whole pro-life movement is stupid anyway. It frames the debate as abortion vs. no abortion when in reality it is about legal, safe, regulated abortion vs. illegal, unsafe, unregulated abortions. They are fighting against a straw-man position of people who love abortions and want to get them all the time instead of using contraception when in reality everyone agrees that abortion is something to only be used when all other options to prevent pregnancy have failed.
The modern GOP must be removed from the levers of power.
They are already successfully doing it in the south hopefully this can help turn the tide against them and shine a light on their shady antics.
I love that it's failing by the >60% margin it would have required.
Good for them! Show the world that we won't be led into fascism, they'll have to impose it by force.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The outcome of Tuesday's special election maintains the lower bar that has been in place since 1912 and could pave the way for approval of the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that seeks to protect abortion rights.
Ohio Republican lawmakers began their push to raise the bar for approving proposed amendments this spring, after the pro-abortion rights position won in all six states where the issue was directly put to voters in the 2022 midterm cycle.
GOP state lawmakers have touted the 60%-majority threshold as crucial for protecting the Ohio Constitution from well-funded, out-of-state interests that seek to "enshrine their social preferences and corporate motives" in the document.
In Ohio, a ban on abortions after embryonic cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
The amendment would allow the state to prohibit abortion after fetal viability, which it defines as "the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient's treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures."
Republicans in Missouri's legislature attempted earlier this year to replace its simple majority bar with a 57% marker, but failed to send the issue to voters for the final word.
I'm a bot and I'm open source!
been so stressed about this the past month or so very glad to see this result
Ohioans literally defied political gravity tonight.
Can someone explain how 50% is more "democratic"? I feel like it would be more democratic to require supermajority to change laws in this stupid hyper partisan world. In this case it felt like the people agreed so it was bipartisan super majority. Why cant this apply to the rest of constitutional changes?
Edit: im glad i get downvoted for asking for clarification.
The problem is the stipulation was added very deliberately before an abortion rights issue. It was an attempt to kill a more important issue.
Even if you feel it should require a stronger majority the issue was not put out with the hope of making things "more democratic".
And yes, the results show they could actually have succeeded even on a supermajority, but neither party knew that at the time.
As the only other person said they are doing this right before a big vote.
The real problem is that they are trying to raise the current number of signatures for citizens to amend the Ohio Constitution from the requirement that they need to be gathered in 44 out of the state’s 88 counties, to the new version they would need all 88 counties. And getting rid of a 10 day grace period. This would make it nearly impossible to get anything on the ballot for a vote.
Edit: made it more clear that they would need all 88 counties instead of 44
Double edit: you got an up vote from me because it seemed like a sincere question
50% is more democratic, because it means 41% doesn't beat 59%.
