The results are in and another election has come to a close here in Columbus. Ohio voters had a lot to decide in the election and all eyes were on the Buckeye State as we headed to the polls on Tuesday. In central Ohio, the biggest election items included: Issue 1 on abortion access Issue 2 on recreational marijuana Columbus mayor and city council Columbus library levy Columbus schools levy Central Ohio school issues Statewide Races Issue #1 Yes: 2,069,091 No: 1,623,187 (95% reporting) Issue #2 Yes: 2,073,001 No: 1,591,097 (95% reporting) Mayor & City Council Andrew Ginther: 131,283 Joe ..read more

BY: NICK EVANS AND MEGAN HENRY  The Republican-led effort to make amending Ohio’s constitution more difficult has failed. As of 11:45 p.m., unofficial results for the Aug. 8 special election show voters rejected Issue 1 57% to 43%. The Associated Press called the race at 9 p.m. While precincts were still reporting late into the night and absentee ballots will continue to roll in, the 13 point margin offered a resounding victory to a broad coalition of Issue 1’s opponents. “The majority still rules in Ohio,” One Person One Vote spokesman Dennis Willard said from the podium a ..read more

by Rob Moore, Ohio Capital Journal July 13, 2023 One thing that has been on my mind as Ohio considers increasing its threshold for constitutional amendments is the impact such a change will have on the economy. Issue 1 is the constitutional amendment put forth by Republican legislators with the goal of making a statewide vote on abortion rights more difficult. The amendment would raise the threshold required to pass constitutional amendments in Ohio from a simple majority to 60%. A recent article in the Columbus Dispatch addressed all the constitutional amendments that have been approved by vo ..read more

by Susan Tebben, Ohio Capital Journal Originally published: June 21, 2023 Deadlines are coming up quick for Ohio voters participating in the Aug. 8 special election over State Issue 1, which seeks to make it harder for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution by raising the threshold from 50% to 60%, and increases the number of counties ballot signatures for citizen initiatives must be collected, from 44 to 88. Here are some important dates to keep in mind: July 10: Voter registration deadline for the Aug. 8 primary July 11: First day of early in-person voting July 15: Certificatio ..read more

by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal May 30, 2023 Ohioans 21 and older would be able to cultivate, purchase and possess marijuana if a bipartisan bill passes in the Ohio Statehouse. State Reps. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, and Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, introduced House Bill 168 — also known as the Ohio Adult Use Act — earlier this month.  The bill would also allow conviction records for prior cultivation and possession offenses to be expunged.  “Adult-use is good for our economy, good for our justice system, and the right thing to do,” Weinstein said in a news release. “Ohioans are r ..read more

by Morgan Trau, Ohio Capital Journal May 22, 2023 Despite continuous protests, the Ohio Ballot Board has approved the language for State Issue 1, which will ask voters if the state constitution should be harder to amend. State Issue 1 was just approved Thursday, but it has been causing controversy for months now. State lawmakers in the House and Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 2 on May 10. It would place a measure on a special election ballot in August to require a 60% supermajority of Ohio voters to amend the state’s constitution, a move some lawmakers hope will make it less likely ..read more

In his op-ed for The Dispatch, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine addressed the haunting rise of discrimination, hate, and bigotry in our society and emphasizing the importance of learning from history to prevent its repetition. One of the stories the governor shared within the op-ed was that of Louise Gips, who turned 90 in December. Governor DeWine highlighted her family’s journey, as they fled to Ukraine following the Nazi invasion of their native Poland and eventually ended up as Jewish prisoners of war in Siberia. Louise had shared her family’s story at the Governor’s annual Holocaust Remembrance ..read more

by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal May 10, 2023 Wednesday Ohio House lawmakers voted 62-37 to advance a resolution asking voters to raise the passage threshold for constitutional amendments. The vote caps off nearly six months of legislative wrangling largely meant to hobble an abortion rights amendment. Lawmakers are entering questionable legal territory, however, as they set the vote in August through the resolution itself. Legislation approved last December places strict limits on such special elections, and a measure aimed at loosening those restrictions faltered  ..read more

If like me you were slightly obsessed with the Ohio Department of Transportation’s TikTok, I’ve got some bad news. On Sunday, January 8, Governor DeWine signed Executive Order 2023-03D, banning TikTok from all state devices. The Chinese-owned social media app has been under scrutiny by various government officials for years. In November, the Director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, told the House Homeland Security Committee at a hearing that the organization had concerns about the app. Those concerns include “…the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on ..read more

by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal January 5, 2023 While Ohio House and Senate lawmakers organize committees and prepare for the coming session, Gov. Mike DeWine is putting the finishing touches on the last one. So far this week, the governor has signed 23 bills into law and vetoed one. The veto DeWine rejected HB 286, sponsored by Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati. The bill would have allowed legal challenges for certain agency orders to occur in the county where a business or a person resides. The changes applied to agencies handling liquor control, workers compensation, medicine, chiropractors ..read more