Ohio’s top court rules parts of ballot measure at center of abortion fight must be rewritten

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Monday that a ballot measure at the center of an abortion fight in the state needed to be partially rewritten ahead of an August election, but also ruled against Democratic litigants on some of their key requests.

Ohioans will be heading to the polls Aug. 8 to weigh in on a proposed constitutional amendment that would, if passed, require at least 60 percent of voters to pass any amendment to the state’s constitution — up from a simple majority. 

The constitutional amendment would also require signatures from at least 5 percent of voters in all 88 counties, instead of the current 44 counties, with that percentage based on the gubernatorial election’s turnout. A cure period, where additional signatures could be collected should petitioners fall short of the necessary number, would also be eliminated.

The state’s high court ruled in a 4-3 decision that the text of the proposed constitutional amendment needed to incorporate accurate language about the number of signatures needed on a petition for amending the state’s constitution. 

“Under the proposed amendment, the number of electors of a county who must sign a petition would be determined based on the total number of votes cast for governor in the last preceding gubernatorial election,” the court wrote.

“Because not all electors vote in a gubernatorial election, the ballot language here overstates the number of signatures that would be needed to qualify an initiative petition for the ballot,” it added.

The high court also ordered the title of the ballot measure, called “Elevating the Standards to Qualify For and to Pass Any Constitutional Amendment,” to be slightly tweaked given that this ballot initiative would only pertain to civilian-led constitutional amendment proposals.

The lawsuit, which was filed by Democratic law firm Elias Law Group, also argued that the proposed constitutional amendment needed to “fully and accurately describe the status quo that the Amendment would modify, including the simple majority vote threshold for amendments, the petition signature requirements, and the provision for cure of amendment petitions.”

But the high court rejected that argument, saying that “contrary to [plaintiffs] suggestion, we have never held that ballot language must inform voters about current law.”

On balance, the state Supreme Court’s decision is likely to be seen as a setback for Democrats, who sought to clarify to voters how the proposed constitutional amendment will change the current status quo ahead of a potential abortion ballot measure.

Abortion rights activists are looking to put a measure on the ballot this November that would enshrine abortion protections in the state’s constitution. But if the ballot measure in August passes, it would make it harder for the potential abortion ballot measure to pass three months later.

Ohio is one of a number of states where abortion opponents and other conservative activists are trying to make it harder to bring forward and ultimately pass popular ballot measures, as GOP lawmakers push policies are that are unpopular with the wider electorate.