Headline Roundup • August 9th, 2023
Ohio Voters Reject Issue 1 in Win for Abortion Supporters
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Ohio voters rejected Issue 1 on Tuesday, a proposal to make it harder to amend the state’s constitution.
The Details: If the measure passed, it would have complicated a separate ballot initiative to enshrine abortion access, which voters will take up in November. Because Issue 1 failed, the threshold to pass future ballot measures will stay at 50% rather than the proposed 60%.
Key Quotes: "Together, we’ve delivered this unbelievable and amazing, but absolutely true result of what Ohioans really want," Dr. Marcela Azevedo, the leader of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights said. "We’re actually trying to make it harder for out of state special interests to rewrite the Ohio constitution," Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance said.
How the Media Covered It: Left- and center-rated sources covered the news as a top story on Wednesday. Most right-rated sources didn't. HuffPost (Left bias) called the vote "a first crucial step to protect abortion rights" before November's vote, and said "anti-choice Republicans in the state called for a special election to raise the vote threshold in a preemptive attempt" to hinder abortion rights. Fox News (Right) said conservatives viewed the proposed change as "needed to protect the state from a radical liberal agenda," but that it "failed to pass in a lopsided vote."
Featured Coverage of this Story
AP Photo/Samantha Hendrickson, File
Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected Issue 1, a proposal that would have made it harder to amend the state’s constitution, according to a Decision Desk HQ projection.
If Tuesday’s measure had passed, it would have created a tougher road ahead for those in favor of a separate ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion access and is set to go before voters in November.
As it stands now, the November initiative needs a simple majority to pass, rather than the 60% proposed under Issue 1.
Exit polls last year in Ohio revealed...
Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
An Ohio ballot initiative to make it harder to amend the state constitution, a change conservatives said was needed to protect the state from a radical liberal agenda, has failed to pass in a lopsided vote.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected State Issue 1 by a large margin on Tuesday, meaning the threshold for future ballot measures to pass will remain at 50% rather than the 60% the initiative would have required had it passed.
The race was called by The Associated Press.
The failure of the initiative to pass also means the path for another...
VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Voters in Ohio successfully thwarted a Republican attempt to make it harder to pass a November pro-choice ballot measure.
On Tuesday, Ohioans voted to defeat Issue 1, a ballot initiative to raise the threshold for altering the state constitution from a simple statewide majority vote to 60%. Although a simple majority has been the standard in Ohio for over 100 years, anti-choice Republicans in the state called for a special election to raise the vote threshold in a preemptive attempt to block the abortion-rights constitutional amendment that will be in front of voters in November’s general election.
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