Fall ballot gains victims’ amendment

Marsy’s Law, a proposed crime victims’ constitutional amendment, will join the Drug Price Relief Act on the Ohio ballot Nov. 7.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted certified Marsy’s Law for the fall statewide election on Monday.

Husted, the state’s top elections official, said advocates collected 371,749 valid signatures of registered voters from 54 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Under state law, they had to have 305,591 valid signatures from at least 44 counties.

“Today, we move closer to making equal rights for crime victims a reality in Ohio,” Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, founder of Marsy’s Law, said in a statement. “We are excited that Ohioans will be able to vote on placing basic, enforceable rights for victims of crime into the state constitution.”

The proposed amendment would, according to backers, give crime victims “the right to notification of all proceedings as well as be guaranteed the right to be heard at every step of the process. Victims would have the right to have input on all plea deals for offenders as well as the right to restitution resulting from the financial impact of the crime.”

Since being proposed earlier this year, the issue has gained backing from many elected officials, police and crime victim advocates.

The proposal is named after Marsy Nicholas, a California woman who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. Dr. Nicholas, the brother of the slain woman, is paying campaign expenses for Marsy’s Law in Ohio. A similar law was passed in 2008 by California voters.

The next step will be for the Ohio Ballot Board to finalize the specific wording for the issue on the fall ballot.

The Drug Price Relief Act, an initiated statute approved for the ballot late last year, asks Ohioans to vote to limit the price that state government and related entities pay for prescription drugs to no more than what’s paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We are excited that Ohioans will be able to vote on placing basic, enforceable rights for victims of crime into the state constitution.”

— Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, founder of Marsy’s Law