Vote NO on Ohio Issue 1

August 8^th will mark Ohio’s most important election in recent memory.  There are no federal or state candidates on the ballot.  Instead, there is only one item: Issue 1, a proposed Constitutional Amendment which would do the following:

• Raise the bar for getting an amendment on the ballot from 5% of voters in the last general election in 44 Ohio counties to 5% in all 88 counties. 
• Eliminate the 10-day time period to correct petition signatures deemed faulty from the Secretary of State’s office.  In other words, signatures deemed faulty by the Secretary of State (a partisan, elected office) will be thrown out with no opportunity for redress – forcing petitioners to begin the entire process again.
• If an issue gets on the ballot, the threshold to pass will be raised from 50% plus 1 to 60%.

In simplest terms, Issue 1, if passed, would make future Conditional amendments a virtual impossibility. 

The hypocrisy of those pushing this amendment is stunning.  Extremist Republicans were content with majority rule when it came to passing a Constitutional amendment outlawing marriage equality – which was later overturned by the U. S. Supreme Court.  They’re also fine with a simple majority to pass this amendment.  But with the prospect of an amendment protecting women’s reproductive rights looming, Ohio’s right wingers, funded by out of state interests, want to raise the bar.  It’s understandable why the pro-Issue 1 cadre is wary of an amendment protecting choice: most Ohioans are pro-Choice, as is the majority of Americans.  Issue 1’s backers are resorting to the usual odious scaremongering: they are claiming Issue 1’s opponents are trying to “destroy the family unit”, and they're airing ads claiming Issue 1’s defeat will lead to forced gender reassignment of children and “post-birth” abortions – whatever those are.  This is a classic case of the uber-religious trying to drum up hysteria to impose their values on everybody, regardless of one's religious choice. 

The pro-Issue 1 people have the gall to suggest that Issue 1 is really about protecting Democracy, while touting an amendment that violates the sacred democratic principle of “one person, one vote.”  Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who pushed to get this amendment on the ballot, has been caught in his own lie. 

The pro-Issue 1 campaign has become so odious that numerous Ohio Republicans, including former Cuyahoga County commissioner Lee Weingart, former governors Bob Taft and John Kasich, and two former Ohio attorneys general have come out against it.  In addition, a broad coalition of groups from across the political spectrum oppose Issue 1.

This issue will not be decided, however, by card carrying Republicans or Democrats.  It will be decided by unaffiliated voters, which constitutes the largest voting bloc in Ohio.  It is up to them to show up and vote NO on Issue 1.