The Democratic League of Women Voters have said that they are adamantly against Ohio State Issue 1 which aims to change the percentage needed to amend the constitution by a statewide ballot initiative to a supermajority of 60 percent from the current 50 percent plus one.
Their opposition is inconsistent however as their own organization’s bylaws require a 66 percent vote for amendments.
Article 15 of the bylaws of the League of Women Voters of the United States from 2022, which discusses organization amendments says that “These bylaws may be amended at any convention by a two-thirds vote provided that the proposed amendment was submitted to the national board at least three months prior to convention by a state or local board or has been proposed by the national board. The national board shall send all such proposed amendments to the presidents of local and state Leagues and ILOs (Inter-League Organization) at least six weeks prior to convention.”
According to State Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville), the principle of raising the threshold to amend a constitution is consistent regardless of if it’s the state constitution or an organization’s constitution.
“Why does the League of (Democrat) Women Voters require a 66 percent vote to amend its own bylaws? Could it be that they think fundamental changes to a governing document should have widespread support? The principle is consistent whether it’s the state constitution or an organization’s constitution: governing documents should be harder to amend. This is obviously the reason League of Women Voters requires a super majority to amend, regardless of your desire to hand-wave it away,” Stewart said.
Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou called the League of Women Voters hypocrites.
“The League of Women Voters is nothing more than another left-wing interest group. Their mission has nothing to do with voting or voter rights. In fact, their mission hurts voting in most instances. They fought me on moving our Board of Elections in Hamilton County. That move has expanded voting and is wildly popular with ALL voters. They’re just another reactionary interest group to be summarily ignored. This hypocrisy surprises no one,” Triantafilou said.
The Ohio League of Women Voters has been working in opposition to Ohio State Issue 1 for months promoting advertising, collecting endorsements, and training volunteers on how to campaign to oppose the amendment.
This follows the Ohio Democrats also opposing State Issue 1 although their party constitution also uses a 60 percent amendment threshold.
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.
Democrats argue that Issue 1 “would destroy citizen-driven ballot initiatives as we know them, upending our right to make decisions that directly impact our lives.”
They assert that Issue 1 would put 40 percent of voters in charge of decision-making for the majority, would permanently undo constitutional protections that have been in place for over 100 years, would destroy citizen-driven ballot initiatives as we know them, and will apply to every single amendment on any issue Ohioans will ever vote on.
The Democratic-backed group One Person One Vote has also filed a lawsuit against Issue 1 and the August special election on the grounds that the resolution is unconstitutional and illegal. Through the attorney general’s office, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose asked the Ohio Supreme Court to throw out the lawsuit rejecting the coalition’s arguments that the state acted unlawfully by approving an August election just months after the Legislature passed a bill to remove most of the late-sum voting.
Republicans argue that “Issue 1 protects our Constitution from deep-pocketed, out-of-state interests. By passing Issue 1, the people will ensure constitutional changes are widely accepted and declare that Ohio’s Constitution is not for sale.”
They claim that Issue 1 will ensure that amendments have widespread support and tell special interests that the state Constitution is not up for grabs, by requiring signatures from voters in every county, special interests will no longer be able to cherry-pick where they gather signatures, and by restricting the do-overs on signature submissions special interests will have only once chance to play by the rules.
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 “Election Day” by Mikhail Nilov.
