{"id":8981,"date":"2023-07-20T16:31:25","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T16:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=8981"},"modified":"2023-07-20T16:31:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T16:31:25","slug":"40-percent-of-voters-would-control-the-outcome-of-future-ballot-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/20\/40-percent-of-voters-would-control-the-outcome-of-future-ballot-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Percent of Voters Would Control the Outcome of Future Ballot Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DemocracyIssues.com, an Ohio-based Voter Rights initiative<\/em>
\nSpecial to The Truth<\/em><\/p>\n

Legislation passed by the Ohio General Assembly authorizing a constitutional
\namendment (Issue 1) that would make it almost impossible to pass most future
\ncitizen-led ballot issues in Ohio has been placed on the ballot in a Special
\nElection on August 8, 2023; a timing that historically has drawn low voter
\nturnout.<\/p>\n

A separate bill, Senate Bill 92 (SB92) to authorize the extra $20 million in
\ntax payer money needed to pay for the costs of the Issue 1 election did not
\npass the legislature.<\/p>\n

One key provision of Issue 1 is to raise the threshold for voter passage of
\na citizen-led Constitutional Amendment from the current 50%, to instead,
\n60%.<\/p>\n

If it passes, Issue 1 will allow a minority of 40 percent of the voters to control the outcome of future citizen-led ballot issues over the wishes of 60 percent of the voters.<\/p>\n

Deceiving Ohio Citizens<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supporters of this new legislation claim that it is needed in order to
\n“protect the Ohio Constitution from continued abuse by special interests and
\nout-of-state activists,” as stated by Frank LaRose, Ohio Secretary of State.<\/p>\n

In an article in the Columbus Dispatch, Mike Curtain stated,<\/p>\n

“To be charitable, LaRose is flat wrong . . . The anti-monopoly amendment
\n(note: a separate existing Ohio law), now firmly embedded in our Ohio
\nConstitution (Article II, Section 1e), forbids the initiative (Ballot Issue)
\nprocess from being used to confer any exclusive economic benefit to any
\nspecial interest.”<\/p>\n

Further undermining LaRose’s claims about Issue 1 providing protections
\nagainst “special interests and out-of-state activists” is information
\nreleased by the Columbus Dispatch. The newspaper disclosed that an
\nout-of-state (Illinois) billionaire activist, Richard Uihlein, gave $1
\nmillion to a PAC to fund the campaign for Issue 1 to supposedly protect Ohio
\ncitizens from “out-of-state activists (like himself).”<\/p>\n

Why are supporters of this proposed law not being transparent with Ohio
\nCitizens?<\/p>\n

The Primary Sponsor of the legislation behind Issue 1 is Representative
\nBrian Stewart (R-Ashville). An article in the Statehouse News Bureau by Jo
\nIngles and Karen Kasler on May 10, 2023 explained the truthful motivation
\nbehind this legislation.<\/p>\n

Representative Stewart explained in his letter that this legislation was
\ndesigned to protect Ohio’s current law against abortions and Ohio’s current
\npractice of gerrymandering that has created rigged election districts in the
\nstate that guarantee the re-election of \u00a0a majority of GOP candidates-<\/p>\n

” . . .in a (private) letter to his Republican lawmakers that surfaced in
\nDecember, Stewart made it clear that the main drivers (behind Issue 1) were
\ndefeating abortion(ballot issue in November that would permit abortions in
\nOhio) and (protecting) gerrymandering (rigged election districts in Ohio) .
\n. .”<\/p>\n

Issue 1 Designed to Prevent any Constitutional Amendments by Citizens<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other provisions of Issue 1 add even more barriers to citizen-led ballot
\nissues.<\/p>\n

Issue 1 will still require 414,000 valid voter signatures through a petition
\ndrive (10 percent of the votes in the last governor’s race). Currently, a petition drive also needs signatures from five percent of the votes cast in the last governor’s race in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties; a very difficult requirement to meet.<\/p>\n

However, Issue 1 raises this requirement to five percent of the votes cast in the last governor’s race in each of Ohio’s 88 counties which is an incredibly
\ndifficult and costly requirement.<\/p>\n

Issue 1’s requirements that create new and extremely high barriers for
\npetition signatures together with the increased threshold to 60 percent will make it virtually impossible for the success of a citizen-led ballot issue.<\/p>\n

Only very wealthy and well-funded special interests will be able to even
\nattempt the Issue 1 requirements.<\/p>\n

Opponents of this legislation charge that it is an attack on voter rights
\nand democracy in Ohio in order for a small group of politicians to retain
\nalmost total Power and Control.<\/p>\n

Protections of 111 year old Ohio Law needed more than ever
\n<\/strong>
\nThe current law permitting citizen-led ballot issues has been in place in
\nOhio since 1912, or over 111 years.<\/p>\n

“Ohioans voted to give themselves the right to initiate amendments (to the
\nOhio Constitution) in September of 1912. They did so because the state
\nlegislature was among the most corrupt in the nation. Corporate cash lined
\nlawmakers’ pockets. The legislature was deaf to citizen demands for change,”
\nstated the Columbus Dispatch’s Mike Curtain.<\/p>\n

In an article in 2021, Time Magazine stated-<\/p>\n

“USA Today was probably right when it said Ohio was the most corrupt state
\nin the country.”<\/p>\n

On March 9, 2023, senior Ohio GOP leaders were convicted of criminal
\nracketeering involving a $61 million bribery scheme funded by Ohio-based
\nFirst Energy. These GOP leaders were successful in using the bribery money
\nto get other GOP members elected to the Ohio Legislature. They then passed a
\nnew law requiring citizens to pay $1.4 billion of subsidies to First Energy
\nthrough their utility bills in order to bail out the utility company and its
\ntwo struggling nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n

The 111-year old voter rights law that Issue 1 would significantly damage is
\nneeded even more today than it was during the corruption in 1912.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By DemocracyIssues.com, an Ohio-based Voter Rights initiative Special to The Truth Legislation passed by the Ohio General Assembly authorizing a constitutional amendment (Issue 1) that would make it almost impossible to pass most future citizen-led ballot issues in Ohio has been placed on the ballot in a Special Election on August 8, 2023; a timing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[184],"class_list":["post-8981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8982,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8981\/revisions\/8982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8981"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}