Abortion, marijuana measures passed. Here’s the lesson the GOP should learn.
Statehouse Republicans put up a nasty fight, but at the end of the day, Ohio voters proved just how out of touch they are and have been.
As polls predicted they would, Ohioans enshrined abortion and other reproductive rights into the state constitution and approved a measure that will allow those 21 and older to buy, possess and grow cannabis.
The double smack on the nose was a long time coming and well-deserved.
Ohio’s disingenuous conservative leaders did everything they could to fight the people’s will.
They held an August election to make passing amendments to the state constitution harder by requiring 60% voter approval instead of a simple majority.
It’s always a tough sell to get voters to give up power, especially during a duplicitous process.
And boy was the process duplicitous.
How Republicans lawmakers tried to stop the people
For two years, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and other Republicans called August elections a waste of money and undemocratic since so few people voted.
They celebrated in January when Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 458 into law. It all but abolished special August election, changed voter ID requirements and made a slew of other eyebrow raising adjustments to a system that was not broken.
But to stymie the abortion amendment, Republicans changed their tune and spend roughly $20 million in taxpayer’s money to hold an August election.
There’s your waste of money, as August’s Issue 1 lost with 57.1% of people voting no.
Once that vote came in there wasn’t anything conservatives could do to derail the march to reproductive freedom.
Public polling consistently showed a majority of voters support a woman’s right to choose, especially given the alternative – the state’s paused “Heartbeat” law.
That law is simply too draconian. Before being paused by a Hamilton County judge, it banned abortions as soon as doctors detected cardiac activity.
Many women often don’t know they’re pregnant by the time medical providers can detect a heartbeat — as little as six weeks.
Scientific American wrote that a ban of about six weeks really means about four weeks from conception and “only one week, realistically, from when a person could find out they are pregnant.”
(While at-home pregnancy test tend to be reliable, Medical experts say it’s best to wait until after a woman has missed one period to get an accurate pregnancy result).
Republicans wanted all and got nothing
Gov. Mike DeWine, who campaigned against November’s Issue 1, called on lawmakers to make changes in the Heartbeat law so it was more palatable to Ohioans.
But they didn’t. They stuck with an extreme ban that failed.
But this is more than about abortion.
Three strikes with a fourth on the horizon
Republicans are now zero for three on issues important to their base but run contrary to what the voters at large think.
Ohio’s a red state, but not as red as people think. These votes have shown that.
That should concern Republicans, who only hold a veto-proof majority because they’ve twice ignored Ohio voters who want fair redistricting. They’ve rigged House and Senate seats in their favor because, as the last three votes have shown, they can’t win on policy. Even Republicans are telling them that.
Soon, their veto-proof majority will go the way of the Yugo because voters, likely in 2024, will have a chance to take redistricting power away from politicians and into the hands of an independent commission.
That has a good chance of passing because Republicans can’t defend their gerrymandering. Democrats can’t either in states they control.
Abortion is a big issue for conservatives, but power is a bigger issue for lawmakers. Voters have now told them, three times in a row, that they reject the positions they fought so hard for.
And that begs one final question: Are they smart enough to listen?