Tuesday, August 8 is Ohio’s “Big Day” when the Ohio Republican Legislators put ISSUE 1 on the ballot in a special election designed to hope no one goes to vote with the exception of just enough of their key allies to pass it.
- ISSUE 1’s goal: to make sure that majority votes cannot win in the future — only a 60% super majority could change the Ohio Constitution. But harder than that, every single Ohio county would be required to have voter signatures in support of any change.
- ISSUE 1’s purpose: to stop a November ballot initiative that will decide whether reproductive rights should be constitutionally protected in Ohio. Right now, a sweeping ban has already been passed by the Republican-held legislature, but it’s held up in Court, so the idea is to create a backup barrier to stop women from choosing their own health care.
Essentially, the Republican legislators know they passed their legislation over the will of Ohio voters so the special election is their chance to double-down, making sure they’ve rolled over voters who are expected to support women’s medical freedom in November.
The backers of the issue have pulled out a whole box full of unrelated, nonsensical excuses for supporting the issue, including dragging in concerns about parents’ rights, trans, and more, but actually, ISSUE 1 is about eliminating women’s rights to choose an abortion no matter how desperate the need is.
Ohio voters, and all the rest of us, still remember the Ohio child — only 10 years old, that was pregnant due to a rape — who was forced to go to Indiana to get an abortion. And polling shows that at least 54% of Ohio residents believe women’s reproductive rights, including abortion, should be legal.
Hey OHIO! GO VOTE!!!