Americans live in a representative democracy in which citizens elect the people who will govern us. There is another form of democracy, direct democracy, that Americans in some states enjoy. In these states, ordinary citizens can propose new legislation or the repeal of existing legislation and put their proposals on the ballot. Only 26 states allow citizens to either make laws or repeal them, and in only 15 states can citizens do both. Ohio is one of the 15 states with this highest level of direct democracy.
The League of Women Voters of Bowling Green is concerned that our General Assembly is about to attempt to erode this type of democracy. First, the Ohio House and Senate are considering bills that would make it more difficult for citizens to amend the state Constitution (HJR 1 and SJR 2). These bills would require citizens to do more work to put an amendment on the ballot, and once on the ballot, an amendment would need to be approved by 60%, rather than the current requirement of 51%, of the voters in order to pass. Under the proposed changes, if 41% of the electorate voted “no,” this minority would overrule the majority, and the proposed amendment would fail. Clearly, requiring a supermajority of 60% is undemocratic.
A second pair of bills have been proposed to allow a special election to be held in August (HB 144 and SB 92), and the supermajority issue could be the only issue on the ballot. An August election would likely have very low turn-out, so the fate of citizen-initiated legislation would be determined by a very small percentage of Ohioans. Moreover, an extra election could cost Ohioans 20 million dollars or more. For these very reasons, the state legislature recently (12/29/2022) passed a bill that eliminated most August elections. Apparently, some of them have had a change of heart.
The League of Women Voters of Bowling Green is urging Ohioans to contact their state representatives and tell them to vote “no” on the supermajority bills (HJR1 and SJR2) and “no” on the bills proposing to spend taxpayers dollars on an unnecessary and expensive special election in August (HB 144 and SB 92). Senator Theresa Gavarone, a primary sponsor of SJR 2, can be reached at (614) 466-8060. Rep. Haraz Ghanbari’s phone number is (614) 466-8104.
Janet Parks, President, LWVBG
Debbie Dalke, Member, LWVBG
