Ohio Supreme Court OKs August election for plan to make it harder to amend constitution – By Haley BeMiller (The Columbus Dispatch) / June 16, 2023
Ohio can proceed with an August election for voters to decide whether it should be harder to amend the state constitution, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Friday.
In a 4-3 ruling, the Republican-leaning court determined that lawmakers legally set an Aug. 8 election for Issue 1. If approved, the measure would require 60% of voters to enact new constitutional amendments, instead of a simple majority of 50% plus one.
Issue 1 would also change the signature-gathering process citizens must follow to place amendments on the ballot. It requires citizen groups to get voter signatures from all 88 counties, instead of 44, to place an amendment on the ballot. And it would eliminate a 10-day period that petitioners are granted to replace any invalid signatures.
