Take Action Now- August 2023

• Issue 1 Ends Majority Rule: It means just 40% of voters can block any issue, putting 40% of voters in charge of decision-making for the majority.

• Issue 1 Shreds Our Constitution: It would permanently undo constitutional protections that have been in place for over 100 years to check politicians’ power at the ballot box.

• Issue 1 Takes Away Our Freedom: It would destroy citizen-driven ballot initiatives as we know them, guaranteeing that only wealthy special interests could advance changes to our constitution.

• Issue 1 Applies to All Issues: If this amendment passes, it will apply to every single amendment on any issue Ohioans will ever vote on – you name it, just 40% of voters will decide. - Ballotpedia

Billionaire backing effort to raise Ohio amendment threshold funded election deniers, Jan. 6 rally

An out-of-state donor who wants to make it a lot harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution has a history of supporting candidates who falsely deny the results of the 2020 presidential election — and he’s a major supporter of groups that helped organize the rally on Jan. 6, 2021 that led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. - Ohio Capitol Journal

TOP 5 REASONS TO VOTE NO ON ISSUE 1 ON AUGUST 8TH

On August 8, 2023, Ohioans will be asked to decide one of the most consequential elections in our lifetime. The question is: Should Ohioans break from 110 years of our history and make it harder for citizens to amend our constitution?  Of course, we shouldn’t. - ACLU

Ohio Sec. of State LaRose admits making constitution harder to amend is ‘100% about… abortion’
In the video, he adds that although it is about abortion now, it would be useful down the road to combat what he calls “dangerous plans” from the “Left.”

“The next thing they want to do is put a $15 an hour minimum wage in our state constitution,” he said. “And who knows what’s next? Marijuana?” Ohio Capitol Journal

Ohioans vote on Issue 1 in Aug., what does it say?

"My biggest concern is that Ohioans will look at this ballot language, will not understand that if they vote yes, they're actually voting to take their own personal power and right away as an Ohio voter," Miller said.

“Democrats and nonpartisan organizations say the language is purposely misleading by not including the current standards for passing constitutional amendments, which is a simple majority of 50% +1. Voters should also know signature requirements will expand from 44 to all 88 counties, Jen Miller with the League of Women Voters of Ohio said.” - News 5 Cleveland 

Ohio board approves 'Issue 1' August ballot question meant to thwart abortion rights push

LaRose said his intention was to keep the ballot language simple, which Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora said was disingenuous. “It's sneaky and it's illegal,” he said.

“On this August's ballot, voters will be asked whether or not they support raising the threshold for passing future constitutional amendments from the simple majority Ohio has had in place since 1912 to a 60% supermajority. As a constitutional amendment itself, the 60% question will only need to pass by a simple majority of 50%-plus-one.” - WKYC News

Ohio House votes to send 60% approval amendment to special election in August
The resolution is controversial

“More than 250 unions and community groups have come out in opposition to it. Hundreds of the opponents packed inside the rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse while the vote was being taken. They chanted so loudly that they could be heard inside the chamber, even with its heavy doors closed, as the resolution was debated and the vote was taken.” - State House News

Ohio Republicans approve August election that could thwart abortion-rights push in state

“These politicians know that their radical views on abortion care can’t win a fair vote, so they’re rigging the system,” Kellie Copeland, spokesperson for Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, said in a statement about the August special election.

“Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature this week approved a resolution that will ask voters in August to increase the threshold needed to change the constitution from a simple majority to 60%. It also would require backers of ballot initiatives to get signatures from voters in all of Ohio’s 88 counties – rather than current 44 – to place something on the ballot.

Voters also could decide to eliminate the 10-day period during which citizen groups are currently allowed to gather additional voter signatures if their petitions are found to lack the required amount of valid signatures.

The special election will be held August 8. The election measure passed in the form of a joint resolution and does not require the governor’s signature to take effect.” - CNN

What would an Ohio abortion amendment mean for parental consent?

Protect Women Ohio, which opposes the proposed constitutional amendment, launched television ads that claim parents could not stop their children from having an abortion or receiving medical treatment for transgender minors. "You could be cut out of the biggest decision of her life."

Proponents of the abortion measure say that's not true. "There is absolutely nothing in the amendment that mentions or supersedes Ohio's parental consent laws," Dr. Lauren Beene, executive director of Ohio Physicians For Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. - Columbus Dispatch

Texas woman denied an abortion tells senators she ‘nearly died on their watch’

“We’ve heard a lot today about the mental trauma and the negative harmful effects on a person’s psychological well-being after they have an abortion, supposedly, and I’m curious why that’s not relevant for me as well,” Zurawski said in the hearing of the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the impact of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“Because I wasn’t permitted to have an abortion and the trauma and the PTSD and the depression that I have dealt with in the eight months since this happened to me is paralyzing,” she said. “On top of that, I am still struggling to have children.” - CNN