2023 Was A Year for Petitions

2023 was a big year for petition drives. In the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, a 6-week abortion ban enacted by Ohio's Republican legislature went into effect and was stayed by a court a few weeks later. But, while in effect there was the 10-year-old rape victim who was forced to go to Indiana in order to get an abortion. Predictable callousness by Republican officials galvanized a doctor-led petition drive to enshrine protections for reproductive rights into the Ohio Constitution. This effort succeeded (despite misleading ballot language) and Issue 1 was passed by a 13 point margin in the November 2023 general election.

This success was especially notable in light of an effort by the Ohio legislature and office holders to restrict the ability of Ohioans to initiate and pass constitutional amendments through the petition process. This change to the Ohio Constitution was put forth in an August Special Election (suspicious, since they had just done away with most August elections). This effort (also Issue 1) failed.

There was also a petition drive to legalize marijuana use through statute on the November ballot as Issue 2. This also passed by a wide margin.However, as a statute, the legislature is free to alter or even abolish this democratically enacted law.