{"id":16610,"date":"2023-08-09T03:21:10","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T08:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=16610"},"modified":"2023-08-10T03:15:53","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T08:15:53","slug":"cnn-projection-ohio-voters-reject-effort-that-would-make-it-harder-to-amend-state-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=16610","title":{"rendered":"CNN Projection: Ohio voters reject effort that would make it harder to amend state constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ohio voters rejected Tuesday an effort<\/a> to raise the threshold to amend the state\u2019s constitution ahead of a November referendum on whether to constitutionally guarantee abortion rights there, handing abortion rights advocates a critical victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as Issue 1, the measure would have changed Ohio\u2019s referendum law \u2013 lifting the threshold to amend the state\u2019s constitution from a simple majority to 60% of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its passage would have effectively raised new obstacles to direct democracy, making it harder for citizens to bypass the Ohio legislature with referendums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The measure was a GOP-led effort targeting an upcoming November referendum in which voters will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A broad coalition that rallied Ohioans to \u201cVote No\u201d on Issue 1 declared victory on Tuesday night in downtown Columbus and vowed to mount an aggressive campaign to protect abortion rights on the November ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOhio, we did it. Tonight is a major victory for democracy in Ohio,\u201d said Dennis Willard, a spokesman for the coalition One Person, One Vote. \u201cThe majority still rules for democracy in Ohio. The people\u2019s power has been preserved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effectively, Tuesday was the first of a two-step process, determining whether November\u2019s referendum would be able to pass with a simple majority \u2013 50% plus one vote \u2013 or need to meet the higher threshold of 60% plus one vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the abortion measure is approved by voters in that November election, the amendment would trump Ohio\u2019s 2019 law that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy without exceptions for rape or incest. It is currently the subject of a court battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Marcela Azevedo, the leader of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, thanked voters for rejecting Issue 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTogether, we\u2019ve delivered this unbelievable and amazing, but absolutely true result of what Ohioans really want,\u201d Azevedo said. \u201cThe energy and enthusiasm we witnessed in the last few weeks has been both overwhelming and inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sprint to November\u2019s referendum has made Ohio the next major battleground in the fight over abortion rights after the Supreme Court\u2019s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already, voters in two deep-red states, Kansas and Kentucky, have rejected efforts to limit abortion rights (though abortion is still banned in Kentucky). The Democratic push to enshrine abortion rights in Michigan\u2019s constitution played a key role in the party\u2019s victories there in the 2022 midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders of the coalition in Ohio made clear that Tuesday\u2019s victory was the beginning \u2013 not the end \u2013 of the campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. They said the work on that effort begins Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday\u2019s referendum was broadly opposed by Democrats and progressive groups. Republicans and conservative interests were split on the measure. GOP Gov. Mike DeWine supported Issue 1, as did the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Right to Life, the Buckeye Firearms Association and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe concern is that people can come in, outside forces, outside the state of Ohio and spend a ton of money to try to impact that. The better process is frankly, through the legislative process,\u201d DeWine told Ohio reporters in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But two GOP former governors, John Kasich and Bob Taft, opposed it. Kasich, who suffered a political setback when voters overturned a controversial anti-union law in 2011, said on Twitter in April that seeking to limit voters\u2019 say on public policy measures is wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve experienced that firsthand, having policies backed by myself and a majority of the legislature\u2019s members overturned at the ballot box, and it never occurred to me to try to limit Ohioans\u2019 right to do that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t have been right then, and it isn\u2019t right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside groups poured more than $26 million into advertising on both sides. Protect Our Constitution, a group focused on passing Issue 1, had spent almost $2.7 million on advertising, according to AdImpact data. Protect Women Ohio, a group focused on fighting new protections for abortion in November, had spent $7 million ahead of the Tuesday vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even ahead of Tuesday\u2019s vote, there were indications of strong voter interest in the measure. About 696,000 Ohioans had voted before Election Day, either early or by mail \u2013 a number that exceeded the 638,000-voter turnout in the August 2022 primary and special election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The November referendum will also set the stage for a crucial 2024 election: Ohio\u2019s Senate race. The incumbent, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, is among the GOP\u2019s top targets as the party seeks to retake the Senate majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among his Republican challengers is Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state\u2019s elections chief and the highest-profile proponent of Issue 1. In a video posted Tuesday on Twitter, LaRose touted holding 76 events in favor of the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cnn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ohio voters rejected Tuesday an effort to raise the threshold to amend the state\u2019s constitution ahead of a November referendum on whether to constitutionally guarantee abortion rights there, handing abortion rights advocates a critical victory. Known as Issue 1, the measure would have changed Ohio\u2019s referendum law \u2013 lifting the threshold to amend the state\u2019s constitution from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7082,1449,1830,7292,21323],"class_list":["post-16610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-amendment","tag-cnn","tag-ohio","tag-rejection","tag-state-constitution-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16612,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16610\/revisions\/16612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}