Some Republican state lawmakers want voters to make it harder to amend the constitution by requiring 60% approval instead of the current 50% plus one. And the legislators want Ohioans to make that change in a special August special election that has yet to be created, before a possible statewide vote in November that could enshrine abortion rights into the state's constitution. All of the minority Democrats in the Ohio Legislature are against both measures and there are questions about if there are enough majority Republicans who support both the resolution and the bill to create the August election.
If lawmakers can’t put the resolution before voters in August, or if voters reject it, the leader of the Ohio Senate thinks there might not be options to stop the abortion rights amendment.
The resolution to require a 60% passage rate for constitutional amendments has passed the Senate. So has a bill to create an August special election. But the full House has yet to take a vote on either measure and some are questioning if that will happen.
Republican Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima), who strongly opposes abortion rights, said both bills must pass the House to stop the abortion amendment from passing.
“I don’t know if there are any other options to deal with the November ballot issue. If it does pass, it’s not going to pass by very much and what that means is folks who disagree with what’s in there are going to put another ballot initiative on in 2024," Huffman said.
Huffman said he doesn't think it would be constitutional to put the resolution to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments alongside the abortion access issue in November. And if the constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution passes in November, he said he would not be in favor of passing the resolution to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments.
"No, I wouldn't do that," Huffman said.
Abortion rights measures have passed in other states, but not with a 60% margin in red states. Polls show the issue could pass in Ohio but it's unclear if there would be enough support by voters to surpass that 60% threshold.
Ohio lawmakers have until May 10 to pass both the resolution and the bill to create an August election. The resolution just needs to pass the House, but the bill needs to pass the House and be signed by Gov. Mike DeWine. He has said he will sign it, over the objections of Ohio's four living ex-governors, five former attorneys general, the Ohio Association of Elections Officials and hundreds of other groups.
