Early in-person voting in Ohio for November's election begins next week. Partisans and advocates are working to get voters out to decide the fate of amendments regarding abortion rights and marijuana legalization for recreational use.
Alex Triantafilou, chair of the Ohio Republican Party, says the party is taking its message to voters to defeat Issues 1 and 2.
"We are organizing just about every single day with a grassroots effort of talking to voters, hitting them, knocking on their doors, calling their phones and making sure that the Republican base, it's kind of our goal here, is turned out to vote in this election, and understanding what's at stake here on something as important as abortion,” Triantafilou said.
Triantafilou points out that despite a defeat in August on a 60% threshold to amend the Ohio constitution, enthusiasm remains high among Republicans.
"For our voters in Ohio, we think it's a pretty clear choice,” said Triantafilou. “We have not seen a dampening of enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, I might even say that you've seen more enthusiasm, given the importance of this issue after the August failure."
He says many grassroots volunteers are from churches, and the Ohio GOP is relying heavily on their efforts to defeat both amendments.
"Our grassroots teams are supremely energized around this,” says Triantafilou. “We hope to see again campaign advertising on television that comes from the issue campaign. But I can tell you on our side, among our party faithful, I was just in Ashtabula County (and) Muskingum County over the weekend. You know, our people are excited to get out and vote and push back on this amendment."
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. election is Oct. 10. Early in-person voting is scheduled to start on Oct. 11.
Liz Walters, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, spoke to WOSU last week about what Democrats are doing ahead of the November election.
