Stewart owes Ohioans apology for plot to steal power

Ohio State Rep. Brian Stewart (R- Ashville) is one of the leading bullies behind House Joint Resolution 1, which would undermine the sacred principle of “one person, one vote.”

House Joint Resolution 1 would require a 60% vote to pass a constitutional amendment, raising the threshold from 50% plus 1, as has been Ohio law since 1912. It is unnecessary, undemocratic, unfair and unpopular.

He claims he needs to dilute our vote to three-fifths, or 60%, in order to protect our state Constitution from “outside special interests.”

And yet, raising the threshold for constitutional amendments would virtually eliminate any ability by grassroots organizations powered by us as Ohioans to put forth amendments we want, with or without the approval of politicians.

I served as campaign manager for a failed attempt at a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment in 2021.

Anyone who believes citizen-initiated constitutional amendments are easy likely has never been part of one.

Language has to be so precise to pass the vetting process of the attorney general’s office that it frequently takes multiple rounds of initial signature-gathering. Once approved by the ballot board, a near Herculean effort is undertaken to gather the requisite signatures to make it to the statewide ballot in a general election.

Raising the threshold essentially ensures even more money will be spent on these efforts.

Each voter is equated with a dollar amount, or a cost per signature, as well as a later cost per vote. If the threshold increases, the number of votes needed increases, driving up the cost.

House Joint Resolution 1 virtually guarantees any groups looking to amend our constitution must seek outside funding from national partners. This does the opposite of protecting our Constitution from “outside special interests” — it makes it dependent upon them.

But when I presented this before Stewart in committee, I was not telling him anything he didn’t already know.

There is already an outside billionaire, who does not live in Ohio, funding the extremist effort to amend our Constitution through House Joint Resoluton 1.

The power of a constitutional amendment is among the top opportunities we as Ohioans have for things like criminal legal system reform. It’s why we continue, even when our efforts fail, to attempt to put statewide constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Our families will continue to stand up, speak out and organize to defeat any effort that attempts to silence the majority to benefit the minority.

We do this work from the heart, with a scrappy and dogged determination to build an Ohio that is fair for us

all and free from a gerrymandered supermajority rigging every aspect of our political power spectrum to rule.

I wish I could say we do this work with the backing of a billionaire, the way Stewart can. He’ll have to let us know what that’s like.

Stewart has shown time and again he not respect us as Ohioans.

He owes us an apology for his attempt to undermine the power of our vote, for his attempt to disenfranchise us at the ballot box and for forgetting that he works for

us. Not the other way around.

Emily Cole is the executive director of Ohio Families Unite for Political Action and Change and is a resident of Hilliard.