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Here are the statewide results for Tuesday’s Special Election on Issue 1
By: WOUB News Team
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Voters in Ohio cast ballots Tuesday on Issue 1, which would make it more difficult to pass future constitutional amendments.
Issue 1 would raise the threshold for voter approval of future amendments to Ohio’s constitution to 60%, instead of the current simple majority. Republican lawmakers also added a provision dramatically increasing the workload for groups wanting to put amendments before voters. They’d have to get signatures from all 88 counties, not 44 as in current law.
Results on the Issue 1 vote from the Associated Press will be updated below as they come in.
Since 1912, Ohio’s constitution has required a simple majority to pass constitutional amendments proposed by state lawmakers or by citizens and groups.
It’s has been amended 172 times, but only 19 of those amendments came from citizens or groups, including an out-of-state casino operator. The rest of the amendments came from state lawmakers.
The opposition includes union groups but also smaller business groups, abortion rights advocates and gun control activists along with some religious groups. It also includes Ohio’s four living ex-governors and five former attorneys general from both parties.
Almost 700,000 Ohioans cast ballots in the early voting period leading up to Tuesday’s special election on Issue 1. More than 118,000 Ohioans have voted early, either by mail or in person, during the last three days of early voting alone.
(Read more on early voting for the August Special Election here.)
Polls closed at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, but those waiting in line at that time could continue to stay in line.