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OHIO VOTERS TO MAKE HISTORIC CHOICES ON ABORTION, MARIJUANA

THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH


OHIO VOTERS TO MAKE HISTORIC CHOICES ON ABORTION, MARIJUANA

Jim Provance
The Blade
jprovance@theblade.com

Oct 29, 2023
1:07 AM
0

COLUMBUS — In a single election on Nov. 7, voters will take on two of the most
highly consequential ballot issues in Ohio history, questions that have troubled
the state and the nation for decades — abortion and marijuana.

At a glance
In-person early voting 
Monday: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. 
Tuesday: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. 
Wednesday-Friday, Nov. 3: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. 
Nov. 4: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Nov. 5: 1 to 5 p.m.
Election Day voting on Nov. 7 is 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. statewide

Even as the state has edged to the right, it has been moving toward this point —
aided by a big nudge at the last minute from the U.S. Supreme Court when it
comes to Issue 1, the abortion question.

“Yes, Republicans swept statewide executive offices,” said Melissa Miller, a
political science professor at Bowling Green State University. “J.D. Vance won
[for U.S. Senate]. Ohio twice backed President Trump in 2016 and 2020.

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“In that regard, 58 percent [support for Issue 1 in polls] might be surprising
to some readers..., but Ohio's opinion on both tracks with national public
opinion,” she said. “I also think the two (issues) are very understandable with
strong opinions on both sides.”


Jim Provance
Cash support for Ohio abortion rights amendment eclipses opposition

Abortion rights opponents inside and outside of Ohio to some extent have set
this stage themselves, pushing for years to reverse Roe vs. Wade, the 1973
landmark Supreme Court ruling recognizing a right to abortion access in the U.S.
Constitution. That handed regulation back to states.

This vote is Ohio's response, a question that will decide whether to take what
was recognized as a federal right and make it a state right.

“On the pro-life side, it has been a litmus test for candidates for many years,”
Ms. Miller said. “For the pro-choice side nationally it wasn't a litmus test
because it was protected. Now things have overturned.”

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The only abortion-related question on any state's ballot this fall, the vote is
being watched as a harbinger for next year's midterm elections when Maryland,
New York, and possibly other states will consider similar questions. Last year
all six abortion-related votes on the ballot in red and blue states alike,
including Michigan, saw victories for the pro-choice side.

A recent Baldwin-Wallace University Ohio Pulse Poll suggests 58 percent of
likely voters favor Issue 1, the abortion amendment. This was in line with the
findings of a USA Today/Suffolk University poll in July.



The same BW poll suggested 57 percent favor Issue 2, the proposed marijuana law.

Mark Weaver is a GOP political strategist who is not involved in either of the
ballot issue campaigns. He plans to vote against both.


Jim Provance
Tongue-in-cheek ad claims Morenci wants to keep Ohio marijuana revenue

“The proponents of abortion and marijuana have taken advantage of the ability to
put an issue on the ballot and word it in a vague way to get them passed,” he
said. “The average person would say they're voting yes on Issue 1 to bring Ohio
back to Roe v. Wade status when, in fact, it does so much more than that.

“The abortion industry is claiming to put the camel's nose under the tent, but
the whole camel is coming into the tent, including the issue of parental
rights,” he said.

Supporters of the proposed amendment have presented Issue 1 as a choice between
individual decisions on reproductive issues and a strict ban on nearly all
abortions in Ohio at as early as six weeks of pregnancy.

That so-called “heartbeat” law was the standard in Ohio for nearly three months
last year immediately after the nation's high court reversed Roe. A Hamilton
County judge then placed it on hold again, this time finding that it violates
the Ohio Constitution even without the reproductive rights language added.

The Ohio Supreme Court could decide at any time whether to restore the law, even
as voters are already going to the polls to consider an amendment that would
presumably render it unconstitutional.

Toledo's Jim Ruvolo, former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, is also not
involved in either campaign.

“The Republicans are the dog who caught the car,” he said “For years they wanted
to end abortion, and when they get it, now they're not sure they did the right
thing.

“They've activated the electorate,” he said. “As long as Roe was in place, our
side wasn't concerned about the issue. Now that the court has said it's up to
the states, Republicans are in a bad position. People are going to vote what
they think, and what they think is not what Republicans think.”

Issue 1 asks voters whether they want to insert into the constitution's Bill of
Rights a right for individuals to make their own reproductive decisions,
including those affecting contraception, miscarriage care, fertility treatment,
and whether to keep or terminate a pregnancy.

It would generally prohibit government from getting involved in such decisions
until after viability, the point at which a doctor determines a “fetus has a
significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures.”

There would be exceptions if the mother's life or health is deemed to be in
danger.

While the six-week ban is on hold, state law generally prohibits most abortions
at about 22 weeks.

Issue 2 meanwhile will mark the second time that Ohioans weigh in on legalized
pot for recreational use by adults 21 and older. Eight years ago voters soundly
rejected a proposal that would have locked in monopolies for marijuana
production into the constitution.

But now Ohio has a fully operational medical marijuana program in place while
other states, including neighboring Michigan, have jumped headfirst into a fully
legal market.

“The fact is Ohio has been moving incrementally in that direction,” Ms. Miller
said. “It's not as if there isn't legal marijuana available in Ohio. It is
prescribed by doctors. With that issue, it's almost as if the pro-legalization
side has paved the way. The cultural change on marijuana nationally has been
fairly fast nationwide.”

Unlike the abortion question, Issue 2 asks voters to adopt a law, not a
constitutional amendment, to allow Ohioans to legally possess, grow, smoke, and
share limited amounts of marijuana obtained through a state-run system built
over the existing medical marijuana infrastructure.

It would impose a new 10 percent tax on products with revenue distributed
between host communities, addiction treatment, a social equity fund that must
still be fleshed out, and the state for administrative overhead.

“This has been the trend over the last 20 years of people saying maybe marijuana
is not that bad,” Mr. Ruvolo said. “It's not a gateway drug. We saw
decriminalization, and then we saw Colorado legalize it. There was not a
catastrophe in Colorado or other states...

“Michigan is a good example of that,” he said. “They went to medical first, and
it wasn't a big deal, so legalization became the next step, and they took it.”

By promoting a state law instead of a constitutional amendment, backers run the
risk of seeing their final product subsequently altered or repealed altogether
by state legislators like any other law.

“The left is taking advantage of the widely held misperception that people go to
prison for personal amounts of marijuana,” Mr. Weaver, the GOP strategist, said.
“That's not true, and it has not been true for a long time. It's the same level
offense as a parking ticket.

“People's attitude about marijuana was shaped in the 1970s and 1980s,” he said.
“Because the general public sees it as an innocuous thing, they're more likely
to vote yes. I think attitudes about marijuana have softened even as potency of
the drug has hardened.”

That both questions reached the ballot at the same time was, to some
extent, because of a delay in processing the signatures that first put the
proposed marijuana law in lawmakers' laps. The signatures were filed in late
2021, but by the time county boards of election completed their signature review
and the proposed initiated statute had been certified, the window for putting it
to lawmakers at the start of 2022 had closed.

That pushed the entire timeline to 2023 for lawmakers to first take a four-month
look at the law before backers could gather signatures to put the question
directly to voters.

First Published October 29, 2023, 1:00am

Jim Provance
Follow to receive notifications any time Jim Provance publishes a new story


RELATED

The Blade
List of Toledo-area school, tax, marijuana issues on November ballot

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