A summer election to watch

When people have a chance to vote on abortion rights, abortion rights win. We've seen that in Kansas. We've seen that in Wisconsin when voters statewide had the chance to elect a state Supreme Court justice who supported the right to inclusive reproductive health care.

So politicians in Ohio who want to ban abortion thought up a simple remedy for voter unrest which might lead to protecting abortion access: raise the number of voters required for a state constitutional initiative from 50 percent +1 to 60 percent. And schedule the vote on their change in the rules for an obscure Tuesday in August when no one is paying attention.

According to the Bowling Green Independent News, lifelong Republican, former Wood County prosecuting attorney, Ohio senator, state auditor and state attorney general Betty Montgomery is having none of it.

Issue 1, which if passed by 50% plus one vote, would require 60% support to pass any future citizen-initiated amendment to the state constitution. That is wrong on many levels, Montgomery said during a weekend phone interview. 

“There is so much about Issue 1 that is anti-democratic,” she said.

Her concerns about Issue 1 include the basics of who, what, where, when, why, and who’s paying? Specifically:

• The traditionally low voter turnout in August that will be deciding the future of Ohio citizen initiatives.
• The new petition signature requirements that go far beyond any other state’s requirements and open the process up to corruption.
• The hypocrisy of using special interest money to fund an issue that is being presented as a way of stopping special interests in Ohio.
• The reasonable safeguards already in place for citizen proposed amendments.
• The obvious “nefarious” legislative motives behind the issue to promote anti-abortion law in Ohio and continue refusal to comply with redistricting laws.

In general, voters like the initiative process -- often more than political junkies or legislators and even if they grumble -- and will reaffirm it when it is challenged. But right now the democratic rights of people in Ohio are threatened. 

The campaign to Vote NO in August needs any help anyone can give, even from out-of-state friends concerned about democracy. Early voting has already begun. As so often these days, our democracy is on the line, but we can and must fight back.