https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ohio-constitutional-amendments-voters-turnout-election-65381bfc596ab5e34c830f67cef05fc2
Republicans in Ohio have set in motion a summer special election over a measure that would make it harder for voters to pass future constitutional amendments.
I live in a dense neighborhood close to Cleveland, and I can see “Vote no on issue 1” signs all over. I figured a “no” turn out was in the bag. But then I drove through some more rural areas of OH, and there are “vote yes” signs everywhere. Now I’m worried. How dumb can these people be? I mean dumber than voting for trump twice?!
The thing to remember is population density. Yes, in rural areas you'll see all sorts of conservative crap, but no one lives there. Those bright red areas outside city limits are vast tracts of mostly empty land.
It's true, but with overwhelming turnout, the hand on the scale can be countered.
So I guess the answer is: VOTE. Vote like our lives depend on it, because they do.
Similar, went to visit friends in rural Ohio and saw a tremendous amount of "yes on 1" signs. I had only seen like 2 in the city vs hundreds of NO.
Honestly made me really sad.
Lots of people seem happy to vote against their own self interests. They fail to imagine a future where they may want to use the same mechanism to help themselves. Honestly, I've just accepted that a large portion of people are incredibly stupid, easily manipulated, and lack any sort of understanding of how their actions may impact their own future.
Hopefully they dont win this special election. Good luck to those voting No!
Yep, you're in a pretty liberal stronghold. We lived in a dense neighborhood in Columbus and it was the same way.
I am really hoping this gets voted NO in a landslide. This is the best opportunity for the sane people of this state to signal how fucking done we are with right-wing extremist bullshit.
Democrats have been losing statewide elections because they have been churning out lackluster candidates and confusing messaging. But this election is as simple as it gets. One issue to vote on, all you have to do is show up. If we can't get this done, we are firmly in the shithole red state category.
Don't hope... **VOTE! ** I already voted No! Here in Franklin County it was a 30 minute line at the BOE to vote early just after lunchtime on Tuesday.
Personally I do a lot more hoping than voting, because you can only vote once per election.
Democrats have been losing statewide elections because they have been churning out lackluster candidates and confusing messaging.
Hey! Sounds like us next door in Indiana. A few years ago, the Democrats fielded a candidate who had a funny mustache and that was literally what they campaigned on. As in they put it on all the campaign signs. Basically they were saying, "vote for the weirdo!" Good call, Indiana Dems. They're talking about running him again, by the way.
I follow our local county Democratic party on Facebook. Do you know what they said when Roe was struck down? Nothing. Do you know what they said when the state banned abortion and gender affirming care for children? Nothing. Do you know what they said when there was a local event to commemorate a man who died in a lynching that had happened 100 years before? Nothing.
But they do love having their chairman do live video streams where he wears a plaid suit and plays the ukulele.
I wish I was joking.
I tried to go vote early yesterday, the board of elections in my county was closed when I went at 2pm even though they're supposed to be open until 3pm. I'll try to go again today and if not I'll have to go election day.
I am so glad I live in a state where mail-in balloting is the default for everyone. I have only sympathy for citizens in states that still require in-person voting. Good luck with your attempt today.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The early signs of a highly motivated electorate follows robust turnout in a handful of other states where voters have affirmed abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a little over a year ago.
Voters have been waiting in long lines and sometimes for over an hour at many early polling places, even as heat waves have swept the Midwest and the rest of the country this summer.
Tom Simmons of Clintonville, just north of the capital, Columbus, stood in line on a sunny Thursday morning and said he planned on voting in favor of Issue 1.
The polarizing battle over abortion in the state, with the constitutional amendment seeking to protect reproductive rights before voters in the fall, has driven the narrative for the campaigns supporting and opposing Issue 1.
Voters rejected, by 59%, a proposed amendment to the state constitution to declare that it does not grant a right to abortion, which would have allowed lawmakers to greatly restrict or ban it.
Associated Press writers Chad Day in Washington, Christine Fernando in Chicago and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and researcher Ryan Dubicki in New York contributed to this report.
I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I am overseas and got the notification of this special election on the last day I could request a ballot. I didn't know what it was about and didn't manage to request in time. I see now that it's about raising the threshold from 50 to 60% to pass citizen amendments to the constitution, which would impact the upcoming measure on the ballot in November. While I'm disappointed I won't be able to vote in the special election, I sure as hell will cast in November.