DeMora Celebrates Victory Over Undemocratic Issue 1

Today, state Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) issued the following statement after Ohio voters soundly rejected a hairball scheme to restrict citizen power at the ballot box. This victory comes despite some of the nation’s most restrictive voting rules which led to hours-long waits for early voting in several counties.

“Ohioans are smarter than Secretary LaRose and Republican leaders think,” DeMora said. “Issue 1 would have ensured that the state legislature would keep their illegal supermajorities and no one could ever stop their cruel policies. Extremist Republicans know their ideas aren’t shared by most Ohioans, so they tried to change the rules of the game.”

If passed, Issue 1 would have added stringent signature-gathering restrictions that would have made it all but impossible for citizens to amend the constitution without the legislature. Additionally, it would have ended majority rule by allowing the opinion of 41% of Ohioans to outweigh the majority.