Ohio Says Nope!

The Ohio State Fair ended a few days ago. Visitors could watch pig races, go for camel rides, and marvel at the Butter Cow! They could visit the animal pens, attend the awards ceremonies, or hear concerts from several well-known musical acts. Both adults and children could visit the Midway rides and the sideshows. They could choose among those with sleight of hands acts, perhaps, or throw the baseball at a target to win a stuffed animal.

As we are seeing this week at the nearby Iowa State Fair, politicking is a major part of these fairs. Most state officeholders will be attending. In an early caucus state such as Iowa, national candidates also make appearances.

But, back to Ohio, shortly after the State Fair ended, voters throughout the state cast ballots on a state-wide referendum called Question 1. A yes vote would increase the percentage of votes required to pass a referendum to 60% from the current 50%. A No vote would keep the percentage at its current level. Despite the state legislature deciding last year to no longer hold August votes, due to usually low turnout and little interest, the secretary of state and others thought it might be a good idea this year. Voters had successfully petitioned to put on the November election ballot, a measure enshrining abortion rights into the State Constitution. This came after the state instituted strict changes with a six-week abortion ban following the Supreme Court anti-abortion Dobbs decision. That petition would have required only a simple majority vote to pass. The Republican legislature supported the summer vote, thinking this would be the easiest way to sneak it past the voting public. If it passed, that would have required the Fall referendum to get 60% approval. (The Kansas abortion foes tried the same maneuver last year and lost resoundingly.)

However, it turns out the Ohio voters are smarter than the state officials thought; they showed up for early voting and election day voting in droves. National interests prioritized this vote and millions of dollars poured into the state from supporters of both sides. Ballotpedia estimated that over 32.5 million dollars supported these campaigns by the end. Eight out of ten dollars came from out of state, with national persuasion attempts from each side. Television campaigns, yard signs, text messages, and mail campaigns implored each side to turn out and support their causes.

President Biden lost Ohio in 2020 by a margin of 8 percentage points. In a hard-fought campaign, Republican candidate JD Vance won over Democrat Tim Ryan for a Democratic Senate seat by approximately 7 percentage points. As a result, Republicans felt that there was a good likelihood that voters would support Question 1 in this Republican state.

But hold on, the voters seemed to say. In many cases, they had been to the State Fair, and they recognized a deceptive ploy for what it was. They saw the bait and switch used and knew they would not win that teddy bear in the baseball throw. Nor were they going to be tricked into staying home on what was being portrayed as a simple procedural vote. (Nothing to see here folks–pay no attention to the man behind the curtain…as they say in The Wizard of Oz.)

Unfortunately, the secretary of state was recorded saying the quiet part out loud–that the question was really about abortion and making it harder for the abortion amendment to pass.

According to the New York Times, people saw through these tactics.

The measure passed resoundingly with a 57% to 43% margin. In this sleepy summer election, voters turned out and cast over 2.8 million votes. That was way above the 2022 primary election voter tally of 1.66 million votes. One voter told a reporter: “This was one of the lowest, below-the-belt actions I’ve seen in politics ever.”

Kelly Hall, a leader for the “NO” vote, noted that the voters saw the campaign as a power grab by the legislature. She added, “Voters know what’s up when they are asked to vote their rights away.”

The voters also rejected other negative provisions on the ballot. One would have required petitioners to collect signatures on their petitions from every county in the state, doubling the current requirement. Another would have refused timely signature corrections that are currently allowed.

The supporters widely expect that the referendum will pass and allow Ohioans to again have access to the reproductive health services they are used to receiving.

Starting with the mid-summer vote in Kansas last year and continuing through court actions, those states that imposed strict laws against abortion access are seeing courts and voters speak out. Voters in Kentucky and Montana joined Kansas in supporting abortion rights in their states. Voters in Wisconsin elected a Judge for the Supreme Court who supported abortion rights, overturning a previous hostile bench majority. Nevada, Maryland, Colorado, and New York are looking forward to measures passing that would make reproductive rights part of the state constitution. Efforts are underway in several other states for referendums to be on the ballot in 2024.

Several states that imposed six-week bans are now in court trying to defend their laws. According to the Washington Post, nearly one in three women, ages 15-44, live in states where abortion is banned or mostly banned.

In Texas, recently, several women who had traumatic or high-risk pregnancies testified about the effects the Texas six-week ban and threats of fines or jail for providers had on their lives and health. They denied some women timely care when they were carrying a non-viable fetus. One mother had to carry to term a fetus that had only a partial skull and brain and stopped breathing shortly after delivery.. Delayed care led to infections in some patients who had miscarriages. The judge called the law ambiguous, making it difficult for women to receive necessary care in emergent situations.

She banned the state from enforcing its punitive measures in cases after six weeks where a patient’s life or health could be endangered by an emergent medical condition. The state is appealing. Florida has also reported similar situations; its six-week ban is paused presently, so the 15-week period is still in place.

Have the zealots in the Republican party overplayed their hands by rushing to pass heart-beat or conception-limiting laws? Arkansas went against the will of its populace and imposed strict petition requirements for any ballot measures, similar to those attempted in Ohio. Other red states are trying to pass similar restrictions. Ohioans are lucky that they already had their signatures collected before the stunt happened in their state, or they, too, would have been unlucky.

Democrats see abortion as an issue they can carry into the 2024 elections and seem somewhat surprised that it continues to be a hot-button issue, as described by CNN, especially for women and independent voters. Voters continue to support access to reproductive services in national polls with 64% disapproving of the Dobbs decision. As the economy improves, “Bidenomics” gets more underway, and inflation slows down to almost normal levels, Republicans have few issues to run on.

Despite the Special Prosecutor appointed this week in the Hunter Biden case, that alone is not enough of a significant issue. It should not lend itself to both sides, “isms’, no matter what the right-wing media thinks. Late taxes, and a gun permit violation (not China money or Ukrainian deals) vs. three, possibly four Federal/state indictments for conspiracy, false electors, intimidation, voter fraud, withholding classified documents, attempts to obstruct, etc.? Get serious out there! There should be no comparisons.

Of course, there are still those subjected to the MAGA cult. They continue to believe the lies still told by the former president. I hope that the warnings given this week, by the judge hearing his case, find their target and mute his responses. His speeches targeted Jack Smith, the special prosecutor, Fanni Willis, in Atlanta; he also suggested he could not get a fair trial in DC. The only official figure not castigated seems to be his hand-picked judge in Florida, Eileen Cannon. Because of his example, most public figures in opposition have received threats and are now under Marshall's protection. Last week, in Utah, federal officials killed a man who resisted arrest, after they came to question his threats against the president, vice president, the attorney general, and others. The crazies are out there and DJT knows how to push their buttons.

While we go forward, rumors abound that the Atlanta grand jury will give the DA her indictments in the coming days. Like many others, I await those decisions.

‘Til next week-Peace!