Ingram Condemns Concurrence of S.J.R. 2

Today, state Senator Catherine D. Ingram (D-Cincinnati) issued a statement after the Ohio Senate voted along party lines to concur with the changes made by the House of Representatives to Senate Joint Resolution 2, which would raise the threshold for Ohioans to pass citizen-initiated constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%.

“I’m deeply disappointed that Republican legislators moved forward with their plan to place S.J.R. 2 before the voters this August,” said Ingram. “Just last year, Republican members argued that we needed to eliminate August special elections because of extremely low voter turnout. Their actions today are very hypocritical and self-serving. It’s a sad day in Mudville.”

On Tuesday, the House Rules and Reference Committee amended S.J.R. 2 to put the resolution before voters during the next special or general election. However, because Republicans voted to eliminate almost all August special elections in House Bill 458 during the 134th General Assembly, the resolution wouldn’t have appeared on the ballot until the November general election.

During Wednesday’s House session, S.J.R. 2 was amended again to include language that the resolution would be put before voters on August 8. In addition to changing the required threshold for voters to approve constitutional amendments, S.J.R. 2 requires signatures of at least 5% of the electors in each of Ohio’s 88 counties, instead of 44, and eliminates the 10-day period to file additional signatures for an initiated constitutional amendment.

The General Assembly will now file the resolution with the Secretary of State.