707
Voters in Ohio reject GOP-backed proposal that would have made it tougher to protect abortion rights (apnews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
50 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Ohio voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution, setting up a fall campaign that will become the nation’s latest referendum on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide protections last year.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] curve@lemmy.world 119 points 1 year ago

Abortion is the big ticket item and the headline isn't wrong but it's also more than that- it would've basically given the Ohio Republican Party power for decades. They already illegally gerrymander, etc. and this would've made them even more unaccountable.

  • Current rules- 44 counties to get signatures, 10 day cure period to gather more if you fall short, 50+% to pass.
  • Proposed rules- 5% from ALL 88 counties, no cure period, 60% to pass.

Essentially, grassroots initiatives already have a high hurdle and this would've made them effectively impossible. Only big moneyed interests could ever get anything on the ballot again.

Very, very happy it failed.

[-] FoxBJK@midwest.social 84 points 1 year ago

From my city's Democrat group:

What landmark changes to Ohio law would have FAILED under Issue 1?

In just the 21st century:

  • 2000: Clean Ohio Fund; state can sell enviro bonds (57% in favor...would have FAILED)
  • 2005: Third Frontier program to modernize Ohio's economy (54% in favor...would have FAILED)
  • 2006: Increasing minimum wage (57% in favor...would have FAILED)
  • 2009: Legalizing gambling at casinos in Cbus, CLE, Cincy, Toledo (53% in favor...would have FAILED)
  • 2015: Barring businesses from using amendment process to form monopolies (51% in favor...would have FAILED)

Let's go further back now:

  • 1923: Remove the phrase “white male” from parts of the constitution describing VOTER ELIGIBILITY (56% in favor...would have FAILED)
  • 1933: Giving counties authority to create city charters with "home rule" (53% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1933: Set the 10-mill property tax limit that local governments can impose without getting approval from voters (59.7% in favor...would have FAILED)
  • 1949: Ending the practice of straight-ticket voting; voters must mark their candidates, not just check off a party (57% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1953: Creation of Ohio state school board, which advises local school districts on education policy (57% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1953: Allowing People of Color to serve in the Ohio National Guard (57% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1961: Allowing Women to serve in Ohio National Guard (50.1% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1975: Allowing charitable orgs to run bingo games, a form of gambling (54% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1978: Prison labor reform (54% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1982: Enabled lower-interest, first-time home-buyer programs that continue today (57% in favor...would have failed)
  • 1990: Tax credits and other steps to help finance housing projects (53% in favor...would have failed)
[-] MajesticSloth@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

This is some great perspective on its effect, thank you.

[-] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

So basically everything good in the last century wouldve failed and this law would’ve ensured Ohio would slide into the same useless bucket as Alabama on the national scale

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

That’s what they’re trying now. Ohio is a major state, with multiple major cities, and a long history as a swing state due to being roughly even rural/urban. Like Columbus is really queer, Cleveland is just as Great Lakes as Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago, and we’ve also got Appalachia and a lot of what you probably can’t tell isn’t rural Indiana. Add in that Columbus is a major hub for business and it’s very valuable and perceived as takable.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Man looking at some of these with the years next to them and Ohio used to be kinda based

And yeah there are other things that may desperately need to be changed about our constitution that wouldn’t clear the 60% mark even beyond abortion. Namely our constitution currently prohibits recognition of gay marriage, which while no longer an issue in the Obergefell era, may become relevant again depending on who bribes the Supreme Court.

They’re trying to force the big Cs to live at the whims of rural Ohioans despite how close the urban/rural population is

[-] splix@sh.itjust.works 53 points 1 year ago

Ohio is about to get real cool. The abortion vote is going to enshrine it in the Ohio consitution, but along side it, legal marijuana is also on the same ballot.

Go register and go vote!

[-] kboy101222@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

If Ohio gets legal abortion and legal marijuana, I will officially declare that it lose it's "most mediocre state" title

[-] splix@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

This. Is. Wendy’s!

[-] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 45 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Issue 1 was bad and I'm glad to see that the voters rejected it. That they did highlights the growing disconnect from Republican politicians and Republican voters on key issues like Abortion and Marijuana.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

It's really spooky how the GOP doesn't seem to really care about popular opinion anymore.

That doesn't end anywhere good.

[-] Mirshe@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Ohio GOP hasn't cared about the rule of law for as long as I can remember. More famously, they were ordered to draw fair voting maps multiple times running into 2016, and kept submitting maps that didn't even come close to passing muster, including submitting the exact same map twice AND submitting the current voting map.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml -4 points 1 year ago

This goes beyond not caring about the rule of law - they don't even care about what voters want! In a democracy that has consequences.

They seem to think that they're beyond democratic accountability entirely and can ignore popular opinion and ignore voter support.

[-] Spendrill@lemm.ee 43 points 1 year ago

Who'da thunk that making women have their rapists' babies would be a nationally unpopular proposition? One could never have foreseen such a thing.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Not just women, children too. Part of how this was sold was as a “parent’s rights” thing to enable preventing minors from having abortions without parental consent.

[-] Spendrill@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

'If I didn't want my daughter to have a baby I wouldn't have impregnated her in the first place.'

I think that if you're in a position to make policy and your opponents are writing jokes like the one above, then surely you should be thinking about what you're doing... except I cannot feature that they're really that stupid. One thing I have heard recently is the idea that segregationists are segregating themselves by trying to make red states impossibly toxic to live in for anyone from the outgroups.

[-] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

That's not a theory, DeSantis outright says it.

[-] Spendrill@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago

Oh fuck, does he? Has he started talking about secession yet?

[-] littlecolt@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I'm hoping for an eventual situation like in the Metalocalypse episode "Dethgov"

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

That’s true, but also it’s important to remember that part of that goal is to brutally suppress certain out groups. Yes they want trans people to flee, so their child doesn’t have a chance of learning that transitioning is a life path open to them. They want gay people who can’t pretend to be straight gone so every bisexual can be pressured into a hetero relationship. And when those who can leave are gone the women will be forced into submission, sometimes as child brides (multiple Republican states including West Virginia have rejected laws to ban child marriage with parental consent). The trans and gay people left will be criminals forced into sex work (conservative politicians and demagogues utilizing queer sex work isn’t just an old joke, it’s a lot of stories we tell each other). And the people of color and poor white people will be pushed into labor at young ages with low wages.

Beyond the social stuff, Ohio isn’t right to work. Unions can require membership as a condition of employment here. That right is always at risk and once Democrats are driven away it’ll be gone quite quickly.

[-] Infinity187@lemm.ee 41 points 1 year ago

Fuck the GOP and fuck anyone who supports that trash.

[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Every time something doesn’t go their way, they change the rules.

This quote from the resident is spot on!

[-] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 28 points 1 year ago

Vote this coming election and don't let anyone tell you your vote doesn't matter!

If it didn't, the Republicans wouldn't be trying bullshit like this!

#VOTE EVERY ELECTION!

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 24 points 1 year ago

Because fuck you, GOP. That's why.

[-] MyOpinion@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Always good for people when the GOP/Nazi party loses.

[-] samsepi0l@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Also when they lose, but potato/tomato.

[-] Metatronz@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Way to go Ohio!

[-] acutfjg@feddit.nl 8 points 1 year ago

Keep up this energy!

[-] dinguscod@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I only wish it was no by 60% then it would be denied by their own standards.

[-] OneThere@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

By their standards, it only needed to be no by 40%

this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
707 points (98.9% liked)

News

23669 readers
3286 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
rjc@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
gedaliyah@lemmy.world
little_cow@lemmy.world
jeffw@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world