Ohio Democrats State Logo

Ohio Democratic

County Chairs Association

Ohio Democrats Party ODP Logo

Main Navigation

MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • WHY We Are Democrats!
    • County Chairs
      • ODCCA Officers – 2019-2023
        • Message from President Janet Carson
        • ODCCA Executive Committee, Regional Liaisons & Committees
        • County Chairs of the Year – 2020
        • ODCCA Constitution and Bylaws
        • How Ohio’s 88 counties got their names
    • Ohio Democratic Party (ODP)
      • History: Ohio Democratic Party
    • Democratic National Committee
      • DNC Officers
      • Ohio DNC Members
  • Team
    • President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris
      • Nominees and Appointees
      • The American Rescue Act of 2021
      • American Jobs Plan – 2nd Phase of ‘Build Back Better’ agenda
      • American Families Plan – 3rd Phase of ‘Build Back Better’ Agenda
      • Speeches by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
    • Senator Sherrod Brown
    • U.S. House of Representatives
      • Congressman Greg Landsman – Ohio’s 1st District
      • Congresswoman Joyce Beatty – Ohio’s 3rd District
      • Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur – Ohio’s 9th District
      • Congresswoman Shontel Brown – Ohio’s 11th District
      • Congresswoman Emilia Sykes – Ohio’s 13th District
    • Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael P. Donnelly
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody J. Stewart
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner
    • State Senate Minority Leadership – 135th General Assembly
    • State House Minority Leadership – 135th General Assembly
    • Former President Barack Obama
  • Candidates
    • Interested in being a candidate?
      • Candidate Information: Guides, Forms, Links
      • LEAD Ohio & Main Street Initiative Trainings Announced: Run for Office 2023
    • President Joe Biden-Vice President Kamala Harris – 2024
    • U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown – 2024
  • News
  • Issues
  • Action Items
  • Events
    • Are you ready to vote in 2023?
    • ODCCA
      • ODCCA & ODP County Chairs Monthly Zoom Meetings
      • ODCCA Meetings & ODP Co-Hosted Events
    • Local County Parties
    • ODP
      • County Chairs Monthly Zoom Meetings
    • DNC
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • Members Only

‘Legally questionable’: Lawsuit filed as Ohio GOP set vote on higher threshold to adopt amendments

May 14, 2023

A lawsuit has been filed with the Ohio Supreme Court to prevent a possible constitutional amendment question from going to the statewide ballot in August. The resolution, passed by majority Republicans in the Ohio Legislature, would ask voters to make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments by requiring 60% voter approval. Experts have questioned the legality of the resolution and the state’s high court is being asked to intervene.

The group, One Person, One Vote, along with Jeniece Brock, Brent Edwards, and Christopher Tavenor filed the suit. It claims the resolution is unconstitutional, in part, because it contained two distinct legal instruments that cannot be combined. Ohio lawmakers had beenProtesters for and against the resolution convene inside the Ohio Statehouse prior to the deadline for the Ohio House to decide whether to create an August special election for a resolution that would increase the voter threshold to 60 percent for constitutional amendments. considering the resolution and a stand-alone bill to set an August special election to consider it. But some lawmakers were reluctant to vote for a bill to set an August special election, especially since just months ago, they passed legislation to outlaw most special elections because they typically have low voter turnout and cost millions of dollars. Dennis Willard, spokesman for One Person, One Vote says a constitutional change of this magnitude should not be considered in a low-turnout election.

“The question every voter should be asking themselves is – why August, when there was already an election scheduled for November? The answer is simple: because that’s what special interests wanted. Special interests spent millions lobbying for an August election – which will cost taxpayers $20 million – specifically because that’s when turnout is the lowest. This is an illegal special election for special interests. Period,” Willard said.

Republican lawmakers who oppose abortion rights are worried about a constitutional amendment that will likely be on the November statewide ballot that, if passed, would enshrine abortion access and reproductive rights into the constitution.

The Statehouse News Bureau | Jo Ingles
5.12.2023 

Questionable legal territory

Lawmakers are entering questionable legal territory, however, as they set the vote in August through the resolution itself. Legislation approved last December places strict limits on such special elections, and a measure aimed at loosening those restrictions faltered in the House.

Supporters contend there’s legal precedent for setting an election through a resolution, without taking any other action. Some legal experts dismiss that argument out of hand. Organizers opposing the supermajority amendment say they’re weighing their legal options.

House Debate

Half an hour after the House session began, after the prayer and the pledge, after members voted to fill two vacancies and after Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, began his speech introducing SJR 2, the constant roar of opponents just outside the chamber was easy to hear.

Those screams and chants were still clearly audible long after lawmakers held their vote and left the chamber.

Stewart started down this path last November. That first attempt during the lame duck session eventually fell apart. A second try to get it on the May primary ballot missed the deadline. But on May 10 — the very last possible day to make the August election — Stewart got his vote.

“SJR 2 will ask Ohioans — not us — whether Ohio’s constitution should require a 60% vote threshold to adopt amendments moving forward,” Stewart argued.

He argued, as many other supporters have, that lawmakers have debated the idea for years. It’s notable, however, that Republicans found the political will to act as an abortion rights amendment became a real possibility.

Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney alluded to Republicans’ motivation in her debate against the resolution.

“(This is) a body that, at the first inkling of losing control, moves the goalposts and rewrites the rules to ensure that they remain untouchable,” she said.

See you in August?

Stewart concluded by urging his colleagues to support the resolution “once it is amended,” to allow for an August election.

Not long after, the House voted 56-42 to amend the resolution, adding language explicitly calling for an August special election. Legislative leaders point to a 1967 case in which the Ohio Supreme Court allowed lawmakers to do something similar.

“We are of the opinion that the General Assembly may authorize such special election on a certain date by a joint resolution without enacting a statute,” the court ruled at the time.

But the court based that reasoning on a lack of “conflict between any statute and the action taken” by lawmakers. A footnote cites the definition of “special election” in statute, noting it’s simply any election than those “required to be regularly held.”

That definition has changed since 1967, though.

At the end of last year, lawmakers sharply curtailed August elections. One of the changes had to do with the definition of special elections. The measure added new language allowing August elections “in accordance with” a new statute. That statute only allows August elections for municipalities in financial distress.

One of SJR 2’s sponsors, Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, argued the court ruling is so broad that those legislative changes are, in effect, a dead letter — but only for lawmakers.

“Even in the face of a statute that may say that there is no such special election that can happen for that stated purpose,” McColley argued, “the court in that case said that yes it very well could happen, and it would happen and that that statute would actually be unconstitutional as it pertained only to this resolution.”

“Legally questionable”

Nearly every Democrat who spoke against the resolution pointed to the hypocrisy of Republicans pushing to eliminate August elections last year only to change course now. Rep. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson even read Republicans’ arguments back to them from that debate  just a few months ago.

“How stupid do you think the people of Ohio are?” House Minority Leader Allison Russo asked. “Do you think that the voters do not see through exactly the lies that you are feeding them?”

After the hearing, she called Republicans’ bid to change the election through the resolution “legally questionable.”

House Speaker Jason Stephens argued the majority is on firm legal footing, but he didn’t exactly embrace the decision to hold the vote in August. Pressed on how to justify the change of heart, he laid it at the feet of the chamber.

“That’s part of, like I said, representative democracy,” Stephens said, “it’s allowing that debate and allowing people to take a vote and now the people of Ohio have a chance to take a vote.”

The view from the rotunda

Amidst the buzz of opponents milling around in the statehouse, Scott DiMauro from the Ohio Education Association criticized the vote as a “brazen power grab.”

“We’ve already started putting the word out on this, there is a campaign that’s already solidifying,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of support, and we believe that we’re gonna have the resources to defeat this in August.”

Jen Miller from the League of Women Voters of Ohio said her organization is considering a lawsuit.

“We’re looking at our options. I can’t say much more than that,” Miller said. “Clearly, this is against Ohio Revised Code, but we’ll look at our options.”

Ohio Capital Journal | Nick Evans
5.11.2023

Blog Sidebar

Search the Site

Categories

  • Candidates
  • Events
    • DNC
    • Local County Parties
    • ODCCA
    • ODP
  • Issues
    • Federal
    • State
  • News
  • Photo Galleries
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • SPECIAL ELECTION: TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2023 – STATE ISSUE 1; KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE YOU VOTE! May 30, 2023
  • How are issues put on the ballot? What issues may be on the ballot? Who determines what issues are on ballot? May 30, 2023
  • Gerrymandered Ohio GOP lawmakers launch tyrannical assault on 170 years of majority voter authority May 15, 2023
  • ‘Legally questionable’: Lawsuit filed as Ohio GOP set vote on higher threshold to adopt amendments May 14, 2023
  • Ohio Republicans pass HJR1/SJR2 requiring 60%+1 threshold & August 2023 Special Election May 11, 2023

Contribute to ODCCA

Donate Now

Your contributions
DO make a difference!

When you contribute,
you make a difference in Ohio!
Thank You!

Donate Now

Recent News

  • Gerrymandered Ohio GOP lawmakers launch tyrannical assault on 170 years of majority voter authority
  • ‘Legally questionable’: Lawsuit filed as Ohio GOP set vote on higher threshold to adopt amendments
  • Ohio Republicans pass HJR1/SJR2 requiring 60%+1 threshold & August 2023 Special Election
  • Bipartisan groups: Just say NO to plan to make it harder to change constitution
  • What would an Ohio abortion amendment mean for parental consent?
  • 2024 Democratic National Convention to be held in Chicago
  • ‘The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety’ language approved by Ballot Board
  •  
  • View all news

Current Issues

  • SPECIAL ELECTION: TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2023 – STATE ISSUE 1; KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE YOU VOTE!
  • How are issues put on the ballot? What issues may be on the ballot? Who determines what issues are on ballot?
  • SCOTUS: Important cases to be decided in 2022-2023 session
  • Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 = Historic Legislation
  • SFC Heath Robinson PACT Act
  • Redistricting: Ohio 2021 – What * Why * Who * Where * When
  •  
  • View all issues

Pages

MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • WHY We Are Democrats!
    • County Chairs
      • ODCCA Officers – 2019-2023
        • Message from President Janet Carson
        • ODCCA Executive Committee, Regional Liaisons & Committees
        • County Chairs of the Year – 2020
        • ODCCA Constitution and Bylaws
        • How Ohio’s 88 counties got their names
    • Ohio Democratic Party (ODP)
      • History: Ohio Democratic Party
    • Democratic National Committee
      • DNC Officers
      • Ohio DNC Members
  • Team
    • President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris
      • Nominees and Appointees
      • The American Rescue Act of 2021
      • American Jobs Plan – 2nd Phase of ‘Build Back Better’ agenda
      • American Families Plan – 3rd Phase of ‘Build Back Better’ Agenda
      • Speeches by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
    • Senator Sherrod Brown
    • U.S. House of Representatives
      • Congressman Greg Landsman – Ohio’s 1st District
      • Congresswoman Joyce Beatty – Ohio’s 3rd District
      • Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur – Ohio’s 9th District
      • Congresswoman Shontel Brown – Ohio’s 11th District
      • Congresswoman Emilia Sykes – Ohio’s 13th District
    • Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael P. Donnelly
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody J. Stewart
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner
    • State Senate Minority Leadership – 135th General Assembly
    • State House Minority Leadership – 135th General Assembly
    • Former President Barack Obama
  • Candidates
    • Interested in being a candidate?
      • Candidate Information: Guides, Forms, Links
      • LEAD Ohio & Main Street Initiative Trainings Announced: Run for Office 2023
    • President Joe Biden-Vice President Kamala Harris – 2024
    • U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown – 2024
  • News
  • Issues
  • Action Items
  • Events
    • Are you ready to vote in 2023?
    • ODCCA
      • ODCCA & ODP County Chairs Monthly Zoom Meetings
      • ODCCA Meetings & ODP Co-Hosted Events
    • Local County Parties
    • ODP
      • County Chairs Monthly Zoom Meetings
    • DNC
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • Members Only
Donate Now

© 2014 Ohio Democratic County Chairs Association, All Rights Reserved

Paid for and authorized by the Ohio Democratic County Chairs Association, Amy F. Grubbe/Treasurer, 2810 Hull Road #6, Huron 44839.

Not authorized by any Federal, state or county candidate or campaign committee.