The AP reported that Issue 1 was defeated today in Ohio. with 65%+ of the vote counted, 57% of voters opposed Issue 1.
Issue 1 would have changed the vote required to change the state constitution from a simple majority of 50% + 1 to 60% + 1. The goal of the Republicans was to block a referendum in November on abortion rights.
In November, voters will decide whether to add protection of reproductive rights to the Ohio Constitution. It appears that they will, now that Issue 1 was defeated. Red state Kansas voters did the same, and voters in Kentucky and Montana rejected laws banning abortion.
Wherever the issue goes to a vote, a majority will support women’s reproductive rights. To restore the rights canceled by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, take it to the voters.
Democracy rules.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Great news.
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The money that the Catholic Churches and Ohio Catholic Conference spent in August to destroy democracy in Ohio, means they will have less to spend in November to deny women’s rights.
60-70% of Ohioans drove a stake in the heart of theocracy. Well done.
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Since 57% is 10% higher than the Democrats received in the recent senate election, there was huge crossover likely independents and GOP women.
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I am a transplant to Ohio from NY, having moved to be closer to family. The Ohio Republican Party needs to learn their lesson from this outcome. We will not tolerate political shenanigans such as they tried with this August vote, especially given their recent restrictions on such summer votes that they themselves just violated. This outcome gives me hope that our nation still has intelligent citizens who understand what is at stake with all elections, and who will respond accordingly in November 2023 and November 2024.
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“We” as in “We Republicans.”
White over Black, men over women, right wing Christians and Catholics over all others and straight over gay.
Without the religious right, in general terms, GOP politicians wouldn’t win. Jefferson warned, in every country, in every age, the priest aligns with the despot.
There is a close association between the Catholic Church, its state Conferences (the bishops’ political arm) and Charles Koch. Every American should read Jane Mayer’s Dark Money.
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So TRUE, Linda.
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Thanks, Yvonne.
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This is a huge win for Ohio — we needed one! I am confident we will win in November as well. As a petitioner, I had both Rs and Ds sign. I live in a very Red county. Many women AND men understand what the draconian GOP abortion bans mean for themselves, their daughters, wives, sisters, etc., etc.
Also – the majority of Ohioans do not support Vouchers. By failing Issue 1, we may one day get a ballot initiative to ban them if all other means fail!!!
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Katie, it would be great to have a state referendum on vouchers.
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I agree. Currently there is a lawsuit led by Bill Phillis, the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy and other groups to fight our Universal Voucher bill. Perhaps that will be a next step if the outcome is not what we want? Not sure. I defer to all things school funding related to Bill!!
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Best wishes on the lawsuit. I assume the Republican governors have packed it. If it doesn’t work, go for a referendum.
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Huffman and Faber unfortunately have some schools running scared to renew their support of the voucher litigation with their recent illegal information request.
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Katie-
If the groups fighting for democracy, public schools and women’s rights are serious, they will need to have a strategy to counter the politicking and funding of the Catholic Church. Media reported two of the top 5 funders of a “yes” vote on Issue 1, were the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the American Principles Project, founded by right wing Catholic activist, Robert P George.
Media reported the Ohio Catholic Conference was in league with Protect Women Ohio (a major, if not, the major promoter of Issue 1) in preparation of 1,000,000 pamphlets.
In Indiana and Florida, Catholics publicly take credit for the initiation and passage of school choice laws.
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Still, over a million Ohioans voted “Yes”. For the life of me I will never, ever understand why citizens would voluntarily acquiesce their rights. It just makes no logical sense.
The three people of voting age in my household voted “No” today, and for my 18 year old, it was her first time at the polls. Nothing like saving democracy -literally – on your first opportunity.
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I feel your frustration! I truly do not understand how so many of our formally “moderate” Ohioans have fallen spell to all things FOX “news”, MAGA, etc.
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The effect is not direct. I’m in Hungary presently, and I hear Hungarian podcasts that repeat foxcrap almost verbatim. The favorite way they feed the foxcrap is to invite so called “security experts” and they channel foxcrap as latest insider revelation on the truth.
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Mate: Is there a large contingent of Hungarians who oppose the present regime?
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I believe, most cities do. But there is no reasonable opposition to vote for. The last time the “left” was in power, it consisted of ex communist politicians, who in fact were neoliberals.
Also, it’s not easy to pinpoint what to oppose exactly: in Hungary, we have free health care, free higher ed, free daycare, free speech, 4 weeks min vacation, min 6 months maternity leave. So what you want to oppose is not at an elementary level, for example, that similarly to the US, rich people start to decide what should happen in the country.
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I bet the Hungarian security apparatus monitors internet comments (the same way the American apparatus does)
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Matë
Right wing religion and politics in Hungary?
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That’s awesome, Subterfuge!
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People don’t vote away their own rights, they vote away other people’s rights to abortion, gun control, public schools, etc.
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Sub-
I presume you and Katie choose to be “unable to understand” because you won’t accept the role that right wing Catholics and evangelicals play in politics. Almost all of the top state elected officials in Ohio are GOP Catholic, Dewine- 8 kids, LaRose, Matt Huffman, etc. And, elected jurists on Ohio’s Supreme Court are GOP Catholics.
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Oh trust me – I understand the strength of the Catholic church. I’m just baffled at how many educated people can demonstrate so little critical thinking. Evangelicals, Catholics, etc. are actively harming children, women and families. Oh the irony…..
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Thanks, Katie for your comment.
Recently, the book, Playing God… was published. It is about the politicking of the Catholic Church for the right wing.
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Still, fascists like DeSantis and Abbott and their allies, as long as they hold powerful elected positions, will not stop trying to overrule the majority of voters.
Fascists do not respect democracy and the will of the people.
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Florida tries to put as little as possible up to a public vote. When they do, people need a a law degree to decipher its intent. When DeSantis’ disagrees, as in the felon voting case, he puts another impediment in place to deny implementation.
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Proud Ohioan who voted NO and was happy to see others were not persuaded by the lies the yes campaign was pushing!
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Yay! Thank you, Ms. King!
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The doctor in the ads is at Wright State University. There are reports that she was with the Air Force in Colorado Springs. Media have written in the past about the links between people in the Air Force in Colorado Springs and right wing political support.
Recent statistics show that, in general, military personnel are moving away from the Republican Party. If that wasn’t true, democracy would be at grave risk.
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“Democracy rules” –in inverse proportion to a society’s gerrymandering, fake news, tech addiction, and voter apathy.
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Democracy Rules”
Democracy rules!
With large exceptions
The tyrant’s tools
Distort elections
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Bravo and thank you Ohio!
Those percentages send powerful messages. It can be done.
Seems comments on news articles and blogs too often end with the progressive “we’ve got to get out the vote” and the right “well, if you don’t like it, vote us out!”
At the end of that day, that’s what matters and Ohio did it.
And, in the midwest… the right (Attorney General and legislators) is pulling out every trick in the book to delay a November ballot issue on the same issue. The courts (GOP appointed) have thrown out their groundless appeals and just today two legislators are claiming the state treasure miscalculated the cost of the election (?) so it should be stopped or delayed.
Hoping for midwest momentum!
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So in Texas, they didn’t vote on abortion rights, it was simply taken away?
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I think the state legislature voted to restrict, then Gov Abbott approved.
I do not understand why we let legislators practice medicine without a license.
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So it wasn’t put out for the general TX public to vote on it.
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In Texas, the public lets politicians rule without a brain.
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“Issue 1 would have changed the vote required to change the state constitution from a simple majority of 50% + 1 to 60% + 1. The goal of the Republicans was to block a referendum in November on abortion rights.”
It’s interesting that people can see how bad the 60% requirement is in this case but can’t see how bad the senate filibuster is (and for much less critical matters than changing the Constitution.)
This 60% stuff (including the filibuster) is profoundly UN democratic and Democrats who support the filibuster are not real democrats. They are more enamored with Senate “traditions” and other such nonsense than they are with democracy.
To the Democrats argument that “we can’t do away with the filibuster because then Republicans will be able to pass stuff with just 51%” I would say, “Yeah, so what? That’s democracy. If you don’t like it, change your party name”
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The very red Texas legislature voted for the law banning abortion. The public never voted, which is typical. It would be great if every state had a referendum on vouchers and abortion
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sweet
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Here is another candle of hope lit in the murk and bleakness which threatens to overwhelm the USA.
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Little by little, the electorate is getting younger. As several commentators here have pointed out, the younger voters do not have the same set of values as their older counterparts, who are leaving the mortal pale quicker than they are being replaced. Republican strategy seems to shy away from trying to persuade young people to vote like they do, and rather to focus on the political tools available to the majority (gerrymandering, vote suppression, etc).
We have seen the gerrymandering approach fail under the new deal democrats in the 1980s. Instead of developing the ability to convince voters of their philosophical correctness, entrenched Democratic Party operatives relied on congressional districts drawn to their advantage until the early 1990s eroded their entire base through attrition. By the time of Bush II, republicans felt confident enough in their own power to begin governing as though the opposition did not exist. As their base has begun to dwindle, republicans have begun to go through the same process.
As the old fiddle player said, “they ain’t gona live long now.” Unfortunately, the end of a fiddle tune is a much more peaceful process than transfer of political power. People who do not feel the power of the vote often resort to the power of the sword.
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The Dick & Liz Uihlein Family. Are The Hard-Right, Anti-Abortion “Uline Box Billionaires.” Behind Ohio’s Special Election. They Spent MILLIONS on the constitutional amendment. Gave $1.1 MILLION to the PAC that pressured OH GOPee to approve the 8/8 Special Election in the first place.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/ohio-special-election-is-being-fueled-by-out-of-state-billionaires.html
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And, I think, that, these voting results of the, individual states regarding how SCOTUS had, overturnd RvW, are the people’s ways of, getting the right that was originally their own, back. At least, the people are, sane enough, to, not allow the Supreme Court, to, OWN women’s, reproductive, rights.
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O-H-I-O! Yea Team! Yes, we won big. And abortion rights were very much on the ballot and on the minds of many–but not all. The big money folks behind this effort to further de-democratize Ohio and the nation could care less about women’s rights, one way or the other. If one of their wives or girlfriends or daughters gets pregnant, she can always “vacation” somewhere where abortions are legal–like Ireland, etc. No, this election could have made it almost impossible for ordinary working folks to raise the minimum wage, control public lands–now being opened to industry–etc. Now it will be more than interesting to see if Democrats and people of good will can come back in Ohio.
The race for Congress, for instance, in Ohio’s 2nd district will pit a woman candidate against a right-wing Republican. The district is of course heavily gerrymandered, so it will be more than interesting to see whether or not Samantha Meadows can beat Dr. Brad Winstrup. She now has a chance. And winning just a few seats around the nation this fall could put the Democrats–with strong women leadership–back in control of the House.
Fasten your seat belts!
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Brian Winstrup went to St. Xavier Catholic high school in Cincinnati. Cincinnati has the 6th largest parochial school system.
JD Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019 about the time he began his GOP political career in Ohio.
Nat Hochman (DeSantis campaign) was quoted in The New Republic about his own potential religious conversion. He indicated there were political job opportunities (Republican) with conversion to Catholicism.
Thirty percent of Catholic schools are single sex.
Both Abbott and DeSantis are Republican Catholics.
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JD Vance conveyed to Catholicism. Hmmm. Sort of reminds you of Henry Navarre if France, who converted to Catholicism in 1593 after a protracted struggle following the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre. “A crown is worth a conversion “ is a quote often attributed to him on that occasion. He was assassinated in 1610.
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of course they are trying to thwart the will of the majority. They perceive themselves as a fundamentally superior minority of morally correct individuals. They think that there is nothing wrong with subversive activity, so long as that activity protects a vulnerable population. The wolf of mob rule is kept thereby from the door of the sheepfold.
Except that they are wrong. Such logic will ultimately lead to the degradation of the body politic and the trade off: power to the few. The return to monarchy cannot be too distant.
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