OHIO SPECIAL ELECTION
Consequential Win for Reproductive Rights
The outcome of Tuesday’s special election in Ohio serves as the ultimate example of voters going to the ballot box in droves when abortion rights are on the table.
The only question on the ballot was “Issue 1,” which would have increased barriers to citizens amending their own state constitution including raising the votes needed from 50% to a 60% supermajority. Issue 1 was an explicit attempt by the anti-choice movement to sabotage a planned November 2023 Ohio ballot initiative which will protect abortion access if approved. State counties broke records for early voting even weeks before the Tuesday election, and in the end, over 700,000 Ohioans voted before the polls even opened on Election Day.
On Tuesday, voters rejected anti-choice extremists' efforts to remove power from the hands of voters. Nearly 3.06 million Ohioans voted (roughly 2.4 million more voters than in the August 2022 Primary), and 57% of the electorate voted ‘no,’ rejecting the anti-democratic measure with a roughly 14% margin!
As Republican strategist Maura Gillespie noted, the vote demonstrates “this issue [of abortion] being a losing issue for Republicans. They’re never going to win if they continue to isolate moderate Republicans, Independents, and many other parties who maybe aren’t the loudest voices.”
While this is a positive and reassuring outcome, this win does not alleviate broader concerns around protecting reproductive rights. Ballot measures are a powerful tool to re-establish abortion rights in the states that allow them, but they are both expensive and not invincible.
The successful 2022 ballot measure in Michigan cost pro-choice donors over $50 million. Anti-choice advocates are determined to circumvent successful abortion-protecting ballot measures and have already shown their willingness to break established norms and resort to extreme, anti-democratic solutions. In Kansas, abortion rights opponents continue to pass anti-abortion legislation, despite the 2022 vote in which Kansans defeated an anti-abortion constitutional amendment by 59% to 41%. These attacks will only increase as extremists become desperate to revoke our rights.
Further, only 26 states allow voters to directly amend their state constitutions and laws, like in Ohio. Of the 24 states which do not allow direct voter amendments, eleven currently have abortion bans, and that number is likely to grow. For example, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia do not allow citizen-initiated ballot measures, all states in which abortion is banned.
In order to unequivocally protect our personal freedom and access to reproductive healthcare, we must flip anti-choice state legislatures and defend existing pro-choice majorities. Only then can we ensure reproductive rights are resolutely enshrined in every state’s laws.
We are committed to lead this work. Project 50 is the only national organization that is investing in locally-led reproductive rights political organizations in every state, starting with the states that have already lost access to abortion healthcare.
The Ohio election results reinforce what we already know: when abortion is on the ballot and voters understand the stakes, they will vote to protect access to reproductive freedoms.
The time is now to build on Tuesday’s win and ensure our movement’s success continues. We hope you will consider joining us today by visiting our website and contributing $100, $250, or $500.
Always in choice,
Bryan Howard
Paid for by Project 50 (project50.net) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.