Frank Strigari, former chief legal counsel for the Ohio Senate, said Tuesday that the August 8 election set by the General Assembly for a vote on a possible constitutional amendment is legal.
The group, One Person, One Vote, and others filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court, claiming the joint resolution that set the election is unconstitutional.
The joint resolution asks voters to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments to 60% approval and makes it harder to get a question on the ballot to start with by requiring signatures from all 88 of Ohio’s counties, instead of the previously needed 44.
It also schedules an August special election, despite the last General Assembly eliminating most August elections.
Steven Steinglass, dean emeritus at Cleveland State University College of Law believes that was not a valid way to set the election. A joint resolution must be passed by 60% of the General Assembly and goes directly to voters without needing the governor’s signature.
Stigari and Steinglass both appeared on All Sides with Ann Fisher on Tuesday morning.
Steinglass cited an 1897 Ohio Supreme Court decision that states that statute law cannot be repealed or amended by a joint resolution.
“I think it’s a bedrock principle of Ohio constitutional law,” Steinglass said. “You can’t mix up the two instruments.”
Strigari, however, said that a 1912 change to the state constitution allows the General Assembly to set a date for a special election for proposed constitutional amendments. He argues that trumps the 1897 decision.
Strigari also said that the law Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed this January did not strictly eliminate August elections, and that it redefined special elections instead.
“So my point is, there’s no prohibition against it, against having a special election in August,” Strigari said.
Steinglass agreed that the current law does not explicitly say that there cannot be a special election for constitutional amendments, but rather it sets the specific reasons why there can be an August election.
The law that went into effect in April allows an August special election when a local jurisdiction or school district is under fiscal emergency.
The lawsuit regarding the election is expected to be expedited in the Ohio Supreme Court.
