The New York Times reports that activists in states like Ohio are working on getting a constitutional amendment on the 2023 November ballot that would ban any abortion restrictions before 24 weeks. It would re-establish the once “settled law” of Roe v Wade and enshrine it in the Buckeye State’s constitution. That’s a huge problem for conservatives—they may control the state’s House and Senate, but they do not control Ohioans’ support for abortion rights. So they have a plan:
Republicans in the state legislature are advancing a ballot amendment of their own that would raise the percentage of votes required to pass future such measures to a 60 percent supermajority. The measure has passed the Ohio Senate and is expected to pass the House this week.
With that legislative vote the question will go to Ohio voters. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine does not need to sign off on the ballot initiative. However, the Senate has also added a bill to try and schedule an election in August—hoping for lower voter turn out for even the ballot initiative. This secondary bill to create an August election on the Constitutional Amendment threshold would need Gov. DeWine’s signature.
Of course, this ballot initiative would only need 50% of the voters to pass, but if Ohio voters approve subsequent initiatives would be subjected to the higher threshold. “When they’re raising the passage threshold to 60 or 65 percent, it’s often just a percent or a couple of points above what has been needed to pass initiatives in the past,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy. In Kentucky, abortion rights were saved by a 52-48 margin. In Kansas, the 18-point margin of victory in favor of abortion rights still didn’t hit 60%: 59-41. You can see why Republicans want to raise the threshold.
As in Ohio, a Missouri bill getting pushed through the Republican-run state legislature would raise the threshold for constitutional amendments from 50% to 60%. It would also require that threshold in all Congressional districts, as opposed to the current two-thirds of districts, in order to tip the balance of power towards gerrymandered conservative rural areas, as opposed to the overall populace.
“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to: Allow only citizens of the United States to qualify as legal voters; Require initiative petitions proposing to amend the constitution to be reviewed by the voters in each congressional district; and Require amendments to the constitution be approved by a sixty percent vote?”
Most Americans, even conservatives, aren’t keen on taking away other people’s rights, and definitely don’t want to lose their own. There are 23 states that can amend their constitutions in the direction of protecting reproductive rights, and it is this democratic reality the Republican Party is working to crush.
America could learn a lot from how other countries elect their leaders! Political science professor Matthew Shugart joins us on this week’s episode of “The Downballot” to explain how a variety of electoral systems around the world operate, as well as his thoughts on which might work well here—and actually improve our democracy. Shugart gets into the weeds on proportional voting, single transferable vote, “decoy lists,” and much more. If those terms are new to you, you’ll definitely want to listen!
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