By Sanford Lubin
Guest Column
Ohio citizens have a legal recourse for protecting constitutional rights
that is not available to residents of most of the states in the country.
There are 18 states in the U.S. (which includes Ohio) where citizens can
organize and place an issue on the ballot to amend the constitution in their
state.
This approach involving a citizens-led constitutional amendment is being
used in the November 2024 elections to enable Ohio voters to finally ban
gerrymandered election districts with the passage of Issue 1.
When Politicians are out of touch with the Voters
When politicians are out of touch with the needs and wants of citizens,
residents in each of the 18 states can organize to place a ballot issue
before the voters. In the other 32 states, the legislature completely
controls the ability to make laws, and citizens do not have the right to
organize and amend the state constitution.
In the early 1900s, Ohio was known to citizens around the country.
Periodically, articles appeared in newspapers across the U.S. disclosing
bribery scandals involving Ohio legislators taking money in exchange for the
legislator’s support for whatever new law someone was willing to make a
bribery payment.
Ohio citizens became incensed and organized an effort to address this issue.
In 1912, Ohioans were able to place an issue before voters that allowed
citizens to organize and place issues on the ballot. The 1912 ballot issue
passed with overwhelming support and was used to clean up corruption in the
General Assembly. And it has been used over the past 112 years to address
issues for which Ohio politicians have been out of touch with the voters.
Gerrymandered Election Districts and Reproductive Freedom
During 2022 and 2023 a group of Ohio citizens began organizing another
effort to ban gerrymandering. And at the same time, another group of
citizens began the work of restoring reproductive rights to women in the
state. Each group worked to organize separate citizens-led constitutional
amendments.
In counter these citizen initiatives, a number of Ohio politicians led an
effort to call a special election for a ballot issue in August 2023 that, if
passed, would have effectively ended the use of citizen-led constitutional
amendments. One of the politicians leading this effort, Ohio Secretary of
State Frank LaRose, told citizens that this ballot issue was needed in order
to “protect Ohioans from out of state special interests groups.”
Media organizations around the state revealed information showing that this
information from LaRose and other Ohio politicians leading this effort was
not truthful, and instead had misled Ohio citizens in an attempt to deceive
them into forfeiting their long-held rights involving citizen-led ballot
issues.
A June 1 article by Andrew Tobias on Cleveland.com revealed plans by the
politicians organizing the August ballot issue for funding a communications
campaign needed to reach voters. –
“The closed-door presentation . . . shows how Republican legislative leaders
backing the campaign plan . . . to raise $6 million to bankroll their effort
. . . by leaning on Capitol Square lobbyists during budget season, a pivotal
time for lobbyists as they seek to add their myriad priorities to the
massive spending bill.”
Further undermining LaRose’s claims that the August ballot issue was being
done to provide protections against “special interests and out-of-state
activists” is information released by the Columbus Dispatch in an April 27,
2023 article.
The newspaper disclosed that an out-of-state (Illinois) billionaire
activist, Richard Uihlein, gave $1 million to a PAC controlled by these Ohio
politicians to help fund the August campaign to supposedly protect Ohio
citizens from “out-of-state activists”(like Richard Uihlein)
And thanks to the media, Ohio citizens learned the truthful reasons why Ohio
politicians introduced the August special election ballot issue.
According to a May 10, 2023 article by Jo Ingles and Karen Kasler in
the Statehouse News Bureau, the August ballot issue’s primary sponsor in the
Ohio House of Representatives was Brian Stewart (R-Ashville, Oh). Stewart
explained, in a private letter to members of his political party, that the
purpose of this legislation was to block two upcoming citizen-led
constitutional amendments.
One of the constitutional amendments that would be blocked was the amendment planned for November 2023 that would restore reproductive rights to women in the state. And the second constitutional amendment that would be blocked was the citizen-led ballot issue being planned for November 2024 that would, if passed as Issue 1, finally ban gerrymandered election districts in the state.
In spite of the multi-million dollar media campaign organized by Ohio
politicians for the August 2023 special election, voters in the state
overwhelmingly rejected this ballot issue in order to protect their right to
place a citizens-led constitutional amendment on the ballot.
And in November 2024, a citizens-led constitutional amendment titled
Citizens Not Politicians has been placed on the ballot as Issue 1 in order to
provide Ohio voters a chance to finally ban the practice of gerrymandered
election districts in the state.
About the author-Sanford Lubin is a retired publisher and senior editor of
an Ohio media corporation. He is focused on initiatives supporting
constitutional rights, the rule of law, and the protection of democracy.