In the Weeds – Ohio’s Issue One

Democracy

Ohio is in the throes of another controversy.  This one is called “Issue One”, on the ballot this Tuesday.  There’s a whole lot of arguments on social media about how to vote on the Issue.  But, on this single Issue, the only one on our August ballot, it comes down to this:  do you believe in democracy, or not?

What is democracy?  It is a government based on the “consent of the governed”.  And when the “governed” is split as to how they feel, we voice our opinion through voting.  The majority, the side that has more votes than the other, wins.

Back in the early 1900’s there was a movement to make the United States more democratic. After the Civil War, giant companies influenced much of the government.  You might remember from eighth grade history the story of the “monopolies” like Standard Oil, that controlled 90% of the petroleum industry out of Cleveland, Ohio.  The money created by monopolies spilled over into the state and even national legislatures.  Senators and Representatives were “tagged” with  titles, the Senator from the Sugar Trust, the Representative from US Steel.  Out of the Midwest, states like Wisconsin and Nebraska, came politicians who wanted to move power to the citizens, and make America a truer democracy.

Reform

Today we take for granted the national advances those reformers made at the time:  women gained the right to vote and Senators were directly elected by voters, (not chosen by state legislatures).   And in many states, Ohio included, they approved a method for the citizens to intervene when the state legislature could or would not.  It was called “initiative”. 

The initiative process allows citizens to propose both laws and Constitutional changes.  It gives them a “bypass” around a state legislature that in the 1900’s was corrupted by corporate money.  Looking at Ohio’s recent past, where the former Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives was just sentenced to twenty years in jail for taking a $60 million bribe from the First Energy Corporation, things haven’t changed much.   

There is a fundamental difference between the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitutions of the several states. The US Constitution was written to be broad, brief, sometimes vague, and hard to change.   In a few short pages, it outlines the structure of the national government, with powers and limitations.  State Constitutions are intentionally the opposite.  They are highly detailed, defining all of the vast powers of the state in particular.  The average state constitution is five times longer than the US Constitution.  They are not comparable documents.

Initiative

Here in Ohio, the current initiative process, to put a proposal to the state’s voters, is difficult.  First, the language of the issue has to be approved by the state Ballot Board, a part of the Ohio government.  Then to get on the ballot, the proposers have to get 5% of the voters from the last gubernatorial election, and in 44 (out of 88) counties to sign a petition (this year that would be around 200,000 legally verifiable signatures).

Only after the signatures are verified, and the percentages  per county are approved, then the language is put on a ballot.  If there aren’t enough verified signatures, the petitioners have ten days to “cure”, or find more, to reach the standard. And then, like all other elections, a majority, more than half of the voters, is required to pass.

For example, there is an initiative to add a law (not change the Constitution) in Ohio to legalize marijuana use.  It would go on the November ballot.  The proposers handed in 220,000 signatures.  But they still fell 679 verified signatures short of the required number.  They have ten days to “cure” their petition, and get on the November ballot.

The Proposal

So what’s “up” with Issue One?  Issue One is a referendum, proposed by the State Legislature itself.  Issue One would make three changes in the initiative process.

First – It would require the proposers to get signatures of  5% of the voters in every single county in the state – all 88.  The smallest counties in Ohio have only 13,000 voters, the largest two counties have 860,000.  But petitioners would have to get 5% from every county.  It “grants” a veto to the smallest counties, the “will” of 13,000 over the will of 860,000.  That doesn’t sound like a democracy.

Second –  There would be no more “cure” period.  

Third – To pass a Constitutional amendment, it would require 60% of the state to agree, instead of 50% plus one.

Obviously, passing an initiative Constitutional Amendment would become almost impossible.  But that’s the point, isn’t it?  The State Legislature wants control ONLY in their hands.  They don’t want a “bypass” around their power, the bypass that’s been part of Ohio’s election law since 1913.  The current legislature is trying to undo the gains of the democratic movements of one hundred and ten years ago.

August

Last year Ohio banned August elections.  It was just a bad time to get a decent turnout, with less than 10% of the voters usually participating.  Only the most motivated would show up, and the decisions were often “undemocratic” and unrepresentative.  But for this Issue One, the state legislature decided to “allow” an August vote.  Their intention was obvious, to get only “their” motivated voters to the polls, and slip their “undemocratic” change into the Ohio Constitution.  

So here’s where Ohio stands.  The voters can chose to give up their power to intervene, and make the gerrymandered, special interest dominated state legislature even less accountable than it is already.  Voters can make Ohio less democratic, giving the “few” the power over the “many”; all by passing Issue One.

Or Ohioans can show up on Tuesday, and vote NO on Issue One.  They can stand for what the United States is supposed to be about:  a nation where every vote is equal, and where the word Democracy is more than just a fairy tale we tell eighth graders.