August 2023 Ohio Issue 1
A special election was held in the U.S. state of Ohio on August 8, 2023, on a referendum to make it substantially harder for voter-led initiatives to amend the Ohio State Constitution to be proposed and approved.
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Elevating the Standards to Qualify for an Initiated Constitutional Amendment and to Pass a Constitutional Amendment | |||||||||||||
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Yes: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% No: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||
| Elections in Ohio |
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The initiative was defeated by a decisive margin of 57% to 43% amid unusually high voter turnout for an off-year election held in August, with over 3 million ballots cast overall.
The intent of this initiative, according to its creator, Republican State Representative Brian Stewart, was to "[stop] a whole host of [referendum] issues that we know are coming down the pike" including on redistricting, qualified immunity, the minimum wage and, most notably, abortion; a referendum to restore Roe v. Wade-era access to abortion in the state appeared on the November 2023 ballot and passed by a 57% to 43% margin.