Issue 1 - Yes or No

posted by queencitybuckeye

To be fair, shouldn't this issue require 60% to pass?

yes. and it should be on the november ballot, not an august ballot since they banned august elections earlier this year (for being too costly and voter turnout too low)

I cant wait to see it pass and watch the national media have a meltdown about it.

Ohio will be the most racist, homophobic state in the union come August 9th.  

posted by Fletch

I cant wait to see it pass and watch the national media have a meltdown about it.

Ohio will be the most racist, homophobic state in the union come August 9th.  

Where does it rank now? 

posted by kizer permanente

Where does it rank now? 

Fletch moving out would drop it a few spots.

posted by Fletch

I cant wait to see it pass and watch the national media have a meltdown about it.

Ohio will be the most racist, homophobic state in the union come August 9th.  

See the lines in Columbus for early voting it has no chance

It ain’t passing

The no screamers have a better argument than the yes yellers

posted by Fletch

Be careful what you wish for.  The pendulum of simple majority rule swings pretty fast sometimes in the opposite direction.  

It takes no political considerations when you dont have to pull the opposite isle into your camp to pass legislation.

If you want simple majority rule, dont bitch when you arent on the correct side of things later.  

This is the present situation, so it’s what we’ve been living with in Ohio for 100 years.  It’s not something anyone wishes for.  Passage of Issue 1 would actually change it away from what you describe.

posted by j_crazy

I like parts of it (requiring signatures from every county, not allowing new signatures after submitting the petition), but i also believe it will make it harder for citizen initiatives to go through and i hate the idea of 40% of dipshit state reps having the ability to kill anything that their crazy minds want. Overall, i think i'm a no here, even though i'm not eligible to vote in ohio. 

It’s got nothing to do with legislative votes.  It’s to do with citizen referendums getting things on the ballot.  Has no effect on how the general assembly works.  

posted by Dr Winston O'Boogie

It’s got nothing to do with legislative votes.  It’s to do with citizen referendums getting things on the ballot.  Has no effect on how the general assembly works. 

And that's not my reading of the actual proposal.

Getting "things on the ballot" is largely unchanged, just now you need 60% of the voters for it to pass into law.  Please tell me how that is a bad thing?

Again, this is for a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment.  As far as passing laws, hardly anything has changed.

Or do you disagree that a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment should require more than a simple majority to enact?

posted by gut

And that's not my reading of the actual proposal.

Getting "things on the ballot" is largely unchanged, just now you need 60% of the voters for it to pass into law.  Please tell me how that is a bad thing?

Again, this is for a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment.  As far as passing laws, hardly anything has changed.

Or do you disagree that a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment should require more than a simple majority to enact?

If only it was that straight forward. Ohio has had the current system in place for over a hundred years and it has worked fine. Rarely do citizen measures make it to the Constitution, so the current law has worked well. 

I object to the whole premise of this election. This only became an issue when the abortion amendment was proposed for this November. 

Just last year, the state passed a measure getting rid of August special elections as they were deemed too expensive and low turnout. Yet, after the abortion measure, suddenly boom, a new initiative and measure to raise the threshold to 60%. 

I actually do think we should up the floor to 60%, but not like this. I also object that 1 county can kill any measure, gives too much power to 1 County. 

Instead, make it a November measure either this year or next. They also need to revise the Ohio Code to match as that would seem to be the better option, instead of amending the Constitution. 

posted by gut

Or do you disagree that a CONSTITUTIONAL amendment should require more than a simple majority to enact?

Having read every amendment to the Ohio constitution, and finding nothing remotely controversial, I'd say at best, it's a solution in search of a problem, at worst, a highly partisan POS.

posted by kizer permanente

We know what we're wishing for. The Republican party to abandon the religious right and go back to a fiscal party. 

Agreed, and for Democratic Party to abandon the far left wackados like the new wave LGTBQ that want to indoctrinate your kids, that are ok with abortions even after the baby is born, and can’t stop spending trillions more than we have.

I agree with you that the Rs are not what they should be, but good Lord the left has gone far more looney tunes.

I was originally a yes on this, but I did more research, and if it was simply the 60% I would be ok with it, but the requirement to start an amendment going from 44 to all 88 counties was an asinine addition. I will be a no for that reason tomor

posted by ptown_trojans_1

If only it was that straight forward. Ohio has had the current system in place for over a hundred years and it has worked fine. Rarely do citizen measures make it to the Constitution, so the current law has worked well. 

I object to the whole premise of this election. This only became an issue when the abortion amendment was proposed for this November. 

Just last year, the state passed a measure getting rid of August special elections as they were deemed too expensive and low turnout. Yet, after the abortion measure, suddenly boom, a new initiative and measure to raise the threshold to 60%. 

I actually do think we should up the floor to 60%, but not like this. I also object that 1 county can kill any measure, gives too much power to 1 County. 

Instead, make it a November measure either this year or next. They also need to revise the Ohio Code to match as that would seem to be the better option, instead of amending the Constitution. 

Kizer and I agree on all points for once.

I agree with the 60% measure but not requiring all 88 counties. Some counties literally only have a couple thousand registered voters, so a couple thousand out of about 8 million Ohio voters could alone stop the process.

Also the weird quick nature of the way it’s being pushed through, not a fan.

If they had it in November like normal, was just a 60% vote for an amendment (similar percentages for congress and states for US Constitution amendments), but the changing of 44 to all 88 counties for signatures was just too much   

posted by jmog

Agreed, and for Democratic Party to abandon the far left wackados like the new wave LGTBQ that want to indoctrinate your kids, that are ok with abortions even after the baby is born, and can’t stop spending trillions more than we have.

I agree with you that the Rs are not what they should be, but good Lord the left has gone far more looney tunes.

I was originally a yes on this, but I did more research, and if it was simply the 60% I would be ok with it, but the requirement to start an amendment going from 44 to all 88 counties was an asinine addition. I will be a no for that reason tomor

Yeah.. I'm not even sure how we got to where we are today.  it's unrecognizable from even 20 years ago.

Voted at the ass crack of 6:30 before I headed to work. About 8 of us were in line when the polls opened and a steady trickle the few minutes after. Still impressive for August in my opinion. 

posted by queencitybuckeye
Having read every amendment to the Ohio constitution, and finding nothing remotely controversial, I'd say at best, it's a solution in search of a problem, at worst, a highly partisan POS.

60% of votes is as bipartisan as it gets.

Saying it's only an issue because of abortion is kind of the pot calling the kettle black, no?  You care about it mainly, it seems, because you want abortion to be legal and know it won't get 60% of the vote.  Which is a very convenient position to hold, until the next time when it's something you oppose.

posted by gut

60% of votes is as bipartisan as it gets.

Saying it's only an issue because of abortion is kind of the pot calling the kettle black, no?  You care about it mainly, it seems, because you want abortion to be legal and know it won't get 60% of the vote.  Which is a very convenient position to hold, until the next time when it's something you oppose.

And this wouldn't even be necessary if the Republicans didn't pass the heartbeat bill. And they know forcing it to 60% is the only chance they have of keeping it a law. Otherwise this wouldn't have even been an issue. It's the issue of abortion because they made it so.

posted by kizer permanente

Yeah.. I'm not even sure how we got to where we are today.  it's unrecognizable from even 20 years ago.

It was after the last Bush. Bill Clinton and the 2 Bush's were ideologically different, but not THAT different. 

At the start of his first campaign Obama/Biden weren't that different than Rs as well. But over that 8 years and the 6/7 years since good Lord its like "lets see which side can further away from center next". 

Currently the Ds are winning that "battle" but the Rs, many of them anyway, are not that far behind.

Look at Robert F Kennedy, Ramaswamy, Tulsi Gabbard, etc. All 3 rather centrist, yet all 3 have (had in 2020 in Tulsi's case) no shot in the primaries because of the whackadoos voting in the primaries.

If I had to rank right now in order of who I would vote for (current candidates) in the general they would go...

1. Ramaswamy

2. Haley/Scott/Kennedy (2 Rs, 1 D all fairly close for me on how 'normal' they are).

3. DeSantis

Then WAY down the road here...

4. Trump (would take ANY R over him, but I am ignoring the other almost 10 candidates as they have no shot)

Then WAY down the road more.....

5. Biden (mainly because the man should be in a nursing home not  the WH).

posted by kizer permanente

And this wouldn't even be necessary if the Republicans didn't pass the heartbeat bill. And they know forcing it to 60% is the only chance they have of keeping it a law. Otherwise this wouldn't have even been an issue. It's the issue of abortion because they made it so.

I would be "ok" with it being on the ballot even if the main reason WAS abortion, as long as they did it ethically "right". November election, don't throw in the all 88 county BS, etc.

I just can't get the "we'll put it on a special August election" BS. I vote no on every school levy that tries to get forced down a "special election" as well, put it on a normal primary or a general election. If the levy is the ONLY reason I have to go to the polls that day, I am voting no basically every time.

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/08/07/what-ohio-amendments-wouldnt-have-passed-with-a-60-threshold/