POLITICS, ABORTION
GOP Power Grab in Ohio Rooted in Fight Over Abortion Rights
Suppressing citizen voices part of a national strategy
Ohio voters will go to the polls Aug. 8 to decide Issue 1 — if the state should raise approval of ballot measures from 50 percent to 60 percent of the vote, making it harder to amend the state constitution.
Why hold a vote in the summer — contrary even to a law the legislature passed just last year — to overturn an amendment process used since 1912?
It’s because citizens there have garnered enough signatures for a November ballot measure to keep abortion legal up to 22 weeks. An Associated Press poll showed 59 percent of Ohio voters believed abortion should generally be legal. Last year, Kansas and Michigan voters preserved abortion access with just under 60 percent voter approval.
Hence, the 60 percent threshold proposed by Ohio’s GOP-dominated legislature.
The measure would also require signatures from all 88 counties instead of half of them. It also would remove the 10-day period to fix signature errors.
Restricting ballot initiatives and constitutional amendments has recently become a priority in GOP controlled states such as Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Florida and Missouri…
