[The ballot initiative process is a crucial way for the public to
make its voice heard, especially when gerrymandering gets in the way.]
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OHIO ABORTION VOTE SHOWS VALUE OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY  
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Alice Clapman
November 9, 2023
Brennan Center for Justice
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_ The ballot initiative process is a crucial way for the public to
make its voice heard, especially when gerrymandering gets in the way.
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Abortion rights supporters after a victory in the Ohio referendum
Tuesday., Megan Jelinger/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 

Ohio voters amended their state constitution Tuesday to protect
reproductive rights, including the right to abortion. They also passed
a law legalizing marijuana possession and use by adults 21 and older.
This watershed election underscores the vital role that direct
democracy plays in enabling voters to shape their own laws when their
elected representatives ignore their preferences.

To enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution by passing
Issue One, proponents had to overcome multiple hurdles thrown up in
the past several months by anti-abortion politicians. They also had to
overcome voters’ general reluctance
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to change the constitution: in the past 15 years, out of more than 60
campaigns in Ohio, only three amendments had passed before this one.

Ohio is one of 16 states that allows voters to put constitutional
amendments up for a popular vote if they collect enough signatures. As
in most of these states, Ohio voters fought for this form of direct
democracy to counteract political cartels that captured the
legislature in the late 19th century. As one contemporary account
described [[link removed]], when
delegates to the 1912 Ohio constitutional convention adopted a new
amendment to create the citizen initiative process and referred the
measure to voters, “every ruse and trick known to Big Business
politicians was employed to frighten the people of Ohio from
adopting” it. It passed with 58 percent of the vote.

This year, true to history, anti-abortion politicians like Gov. Mike
DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose used “every ruse and
trick” available to block Issue One. First, they cynically
engineered
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an off-season summer election to propose a constitutional amendment
that would have made it far harder to amend the constitution in the
future. Rather than disclose to voters that the proposed amendment
would _reduce _opportunities for direct democracy, the plan’s
proponents described
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it as “elevating” standards. Voters saw through the dishonesty and
overwhelmingly rejected the measure.

Next, these politicians set to work using their state authority to
discourage voters from passing the abortion rights amendment. They
drafted a confusing and argumentative ballot description
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for voters to read just before voting. They ran misleading ads
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passed a legislative resolution
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rife with misinformation, and warned
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that the amendment would bring about “atrocities.” Once again,
voters weren’t tricked, approving the amendment 57–43.

It’s no accident that this constitutional amendment passed in Ohio,
where one of the most gerrymandered
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legislatures in the country had enacted a draconian and wildly
unpopular abortion ban [[link removed]]
that — before being temporarily blocked by a court — forced a
10-year-old rape victim TO TRAVEL
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to Indiana for care and DENIED WOMEN TREATMENT
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for dangerous pregnancy complications.

But Tuesday’s vote has broader implications for direct democracy and
its ability to reshape state policy across the country, particularly
in states where gerrymandered legislatures have for years insulated
themselves from the will of the voters. Even now, voting rights
advocates are readying an initiative
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to reform Ohio’s redistricting process. They are not backing down
from their vision of a legislature that actually reflects the
political balance in the state, even after Republican lawmakers pushed
through
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unfair maps in violation of voter-approved constitutional
requirements, then flouted multiple court orders to fix them, and even
after the attorney general has repeatedly thwarted
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current reform efforts.

Citizens in other states have enacted major policies in a number of
areas where legislatures had refused to act. They created independent
redistricting commissions
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in Arizona, California — and in Michigan, where they also passed
automatic voter registration
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and other
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voting rights measures. In Florida, they restored
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voting rights for individuals with felony convictions who have served
their sentences. In Missouri, they banned
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lobbyist gifts to lawmakers. Voters have made policy in other areas as
well, enacting
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wage increases in states like Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Maine, and
Nebraska; expanding
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Medicaid in Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Utah; and
securing
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reproductive rights in Michigan.

In enacting these policies, voters are overcoming various barriers to
democracy — not just gerrymandering but also the incumbency
advantage and the distorting effects of campaign financing rules that
give undue influence to the wealthy and special interests. Looking
ahead, citizens are planning paid sick leave initiatives
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Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska, as well as open primaries and ranked
choice voting
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in Nevada.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, politicians in several of these states, as in
Ohio, have been trying to make initiatives harder to pass — most
egregiously in Missouri
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ARIZONA
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NORTH DAKOTA
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FLORIDA [[link removed]],
and Wisconsin. Tuesday’s results represent a spectacular failure of
that approach. People care about their right to govern themselves. And
Ohio voters have shown that direct democracy remains a vital tool for
voters to make themselves heard over the noise of moneyed and powerful
special interests.

* Abortion Rights Amendment; Statewide Votes; Ballot Initiatives;
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