The Ohio Ballot Board approved new ballot language for State Issue 1 following an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that the board rewrites the proposal to address issues in the ballot text of the previously approved version.
The new version approved by the Ballot Board in a 3-2 vote split down party lines summarizes for voters what State Issue 1 would do if passed, updated a section of text that the state Supreme Court said misrepresented the new threshold of voter signatures that amendment campaigns must amass from each Ohio county to be eligible for the ballot and removed the term “any” from the title of the ballot wording.
The state Supreme Court said that the petition’s initial version was inaccurate when it said at least 5 percent of voters in each of Ohio’s 88 counties had to sign it.
The Ballot Board amended the provision to fix the mistake. The board clarified that a petition must have at least 5 percent of voters who cast ballots in the most recent governor’s race sign it to have it on the ballot.
The Ballot Board also removed the word “any” from the measure’s original title, “Elevating the Standards to Qualify for and to Pass Any Constitutional Amendment,” and substituted the word “an.” This was done in accordance with the state Supreme Court’s orders.
The state Supreme Court said that the Ballot Board needed to change the title change since the measure only applies the 60 percent threshold to citizen-led petitions and not to constitutional modifications offered by legislators or those presented at a constitutional convention.
According to Ohio Secretary of State and Ballot Board Chair Frank LaRose, although there is no way to ask the court for their blessing on the updated text, he said he believes the board addressed its concerns in the language.
“But what we did was go through the court’s decision and annotate each of the things that they ordered, and we believe we adequately responded to that,” LaRose (pictured above) said.
The Ballot Board did not approve a motion from the Democrat board members to list the current requirement for a constitutional amendment in the ballot text.
Issue 1, if approved by voters, would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
The Ohio Ballot Board approved the first version of the ballot text last month. A Democratic-backed group that opposes Ohio State Issue 1, One Person One Vote, filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court following the approval requesting that the court order the Ballot Board to reconvene and devise new summary text claiming that the current ballot language was confusing to prospective voters.
Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy and Justices Pat Fischer, Pat DeWine, and Joe Deters agreed in part with the group’s stance that the issue contained inaccurate language requiring the Ballot Board to rewrite portions of the ballot text. However, the court dismissed one concern in the lawsuit: the proposal does not list the current requirement for a constitutional amendment.
Following the ruling, One Person One Vote said, “We’re glad the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the changes.”
In a separate complaint, One Person, One Vote argued that lawmakers unlawfully set up the August special election and asked the court to halt it. The court hasn’t made a decision on the lawsuit, although One Person One Vote filed it before the lawsuit contesting the language on the Ohio Ballot Board. LaRose, through the Ohio Attorney General‘s Office, asked the high court to throw out the lawsuit.
Voters will decide whether to approve State Issue 1 during a statewide special election on August 8th.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Frank LaRose” by Frank LaRose. Background Photo “Ohio Supreme Court” by Sixflashphoto. CC BY-SA 4.0.
