Hi Folks: Substack was down when I finished last night, and after waiting until 4:00 to see if it would come back, I gave up and went to bed. Just awake now and sending. Sorry about that— I couldn’t think of a way to let you know what the issue was. In the future, if you’re worried about me, check Facebook, where I did post this last night. Guessing that both of these sites won’t go down at the same time (although that assertion probably guaranteed they will!).
One thing reporters have missed about Ohio Issue 1 is that it wasn't only about stopping the abortion initiative scheduled for voting in November. That's where all the attention was given, and that's what proponents and opponents of Issue 1 alike focused on. The 60% super-majority voter threshold for passing it would have effectively killed the abortion rights initiative, of course. No voter initiative has ever achieved 60% of the vote in Ohio in the 111 years Ohio has had an initiative provision.
If state officials and the legislative majority only wanted to stop the abortion rights amendment in November, the 60% vote requirement would have been sufficient. But that's not all Issue 1 would have done.
Issue 1 had an even more onerous provision, intended to prevent voter initiatives from ever being placed on the ballot in the future. Officials didn't talk about it, probably for obvious reasons, and the national media largely missed it. Issue 1 would have raised the bar for collecting signatures to an insurmountable level. Currently a voter initiative can be placed on the ballot if at least a minimum number of valid signatures from half of Ohio's counties--44--are collected. (The number of signatures required from each county is based on a percentage of the number of votes in the last governor's election, I believe.) Issue 1 would have required minimum signatures from all 88 counties. In addition, current provision allows a ten day period for proponents to collect additional signatures if the secretary of state's office determines not enough valid signatures were collected. Issue 1 would have eliminated that grace period.
Our Republican-dominated state government wanted to insure that future voter initiatives could not succeed in even making it to the ballot. They wanted to make sure a future abortion rights petition drive would fail if the November referendum fails. They are also afraid that voters might initiate a petition drive to create an independent redistricting commission, given that they refused to abide by legislature- and voter-approved changes designed to eliminate partisan gerrymandering. Or maybe voters would like to rein in the legislature's gun insanity. And so forth.
Of course, effectively eliminating voter initiative would have taken rights away from all Ohioans of all ideologies, political views, and party affiliations. We are so grateful this power-grab attempt failed, but clearly we have much more work to do to rescue Ohio government from the grip of these anti-democracy ideologues.
In today's letter, you highlight the decency and democracy of the Biden administration's actions in stark contrast to the plotting Republicans, working overtime and manipulatively to hobble and erase our democracy.
Literally just came on line to make sure everything was ok when I didn't see an overnight email. I'm a Vote No Ohioan here so looking forward to reading your coverage of our vote here.
Thanks Heather, we are as addicted to your letters as we are our morning coffees. I am sure everyone was having withdrawal symptoms!
Regarding minority rule, that’s called Fascism. Regarding conservation of our heritage in the pursuit of social Justice, that’s called vision. I rest with the side of vision.
The Arkansas legislature passed a bill making it much harder to get citizen-initiated things on the ballot. This year, when an unpopular school voucher program passed in the legislature, the AG refused twice to certify language in a citizen-initiated proposal to put the issue to a statewide vote. The long delay made it nearly impossible to get enough signatures before the deadline. Nonetheless, the petition came VERY close to enough signatures through hard work by many volunteers. Another strike against Democracy.
Heather -I'm so grateful for your letters, your research, citations, and insights. Democracy can only succeed when a society is informed, educated, and engaged. Your continuing efforts to educate and inform are no less than heroic.
'But the implications of making it harder for voters to change laws stretched beyond Ohio...' (Letter)
I think that this statement in today's Letter is a crucial one.
It just may be that the majority of voters in Ohio's election were voting not only to protect their right to abortion but their rights altogether - all together. Voters are getting wise to the Republican Party's moves, through state legislatures and by any means to rob American citizens of their rights for the Republican politicians' self-interest. We are seeing positive signs of Americans protecting the rights of all American citizens. We the people are seeing the light!
Ohioan dialing in. Not only did I vote early, I took a carload of legal voters with me and, as a state, we shut that shit down! Republicans are about to go through some things this November and the next.
Protecting our national monuments and associated lands from development and mining is in the interest of all Americans. Mining and drilling on these lands are shortsighted and will only scar and pollute the land and groundwater. Furthermore, Native Americans were promised representatives to our government and it is about time we give them the Representatives and Senators they need to represent them equally.
Is this Ohio vote another sign that voters are beginning to pay attention to how quickly their rights are being taken away. Ohio has been dragged down by a badly gerrymandered legislature that has abused its power in many ways. Yet, Ohio voted for J.D. Vance against a good centrist Democrat and it wasn’t even that close.
But maybe women are important in America. Maybe, as we saw in Michigan, enough is enough. The liberals got very organized for this. They cared and they voted. If it can happen in Ohio that would be huge. Still, the attention must be paid, money must be raised, and the struggle for freedom and democracy is an (almost) every day thing — we can’t go to the beach with storms like we had yesterday. I hope people are noticing that his summer had different and dangerous weather. Paul Gosar doesn’t believe that we should pay attention to that either.
Rest assured, unlike Republican Teddy Roosevelt, a future Republican president will undo all this and open up the treasured lands for gas and oil exploration. The anti-Native, anti-environment folks on the "right" (too often wrong) will be happy to resurrect their racism and their earth-destruction goals.
One thing reporters have missed about Ohio Issue 1 is that it wasn't only about stopping the abortion initiative scheduled for voting in November. That's where all the attention was given, and that's what proponents and opponents of Issue 1 alike focused on. The 60% super-majority voter threshold for passing it would have effectively killed the abortion rights initiative, of course. No voter initiative has ever achieved 60% of the vote in Ohio in the 111 years Ohio has had an initiative provision.
If state officials and the legislative majority only wanted to stop the abortion rights amendment in November, the 60% vote requirement would have been sufficient. But that's not all Issue 1 would have done.
Issue 1 had an even more onerous provision, intended to prevent voter initiatives from ever being placed on the ballot in the future. Officials didn't talk about it, probably for obvious reasons, and the national media largely missed it. Issue 1 would have raised the bar for collecting signatures to an insurmountable level. Currently a voter initiative can be placed on the ballot if at least a minimum number of valid signatures from half of Ohio's counties--44--are collected. (The number of signatures required from each county is based on a percentage of the number of votes in the last governor's election, I believe.) Issue 1 would have required minimum signatures from all 88 counties. In addition, current provision allows a ten day period for proponents to collect additional signatures if the secretary of state's office determines not enough valid signatures were collected. Issue 1 would have eliminated that grace period.
Our Republican-dominated state government wanted to insure that future voter initiatives could not succeed in even making it to the ballot. They wanted to make sure a future abortion rights petition drive would fail if the November referendum fails. They are also afraid that voters might initiate a petition drive to create an independent redistricting commission, given that they refused to abide by legislature- and voter-approved changes designed to eliminate partisan gerrymandering. Or maybe voters would like to rein in the legislature's gun insanity. And so forth.
Of course, effectively eliminating voter initiative would have taken rights away from all Ohioans of all ideologies, political views, and party affiliations. We are so grateful this power-grab attempt failed, but clearly we have much more work to do to rescue Ohio government from the grip of these anti-democracy ideologues.
Crazy to want Uranium so you can build bombs to kill people even if the process kills the local children.
We already have enough bombs to destroy the world. It’s time to save the planet.
I checked Facebook, too, out of concern for you. Should this happen again, I vote for you going to bed!
In today's letter, you highlight the decency and democracy of the Biden administration's actions in stark contrast to the plotting Republicans, working overtime and manipulatively to hobble and erase our democracy.
Literally just came on line to make sure everything was ok when I didn't see an overnight email. I'm a Vote No Ohioan here so looking forward to reading your coverage of our vote here.
Thanks Heather, we are as addicted to your letters as we are our morning coffees. I am sure everyone was having withdrawal symptoms!
Regarding minority rule, that’s called Fascism. Regarding conservation of our heritage in the pursuit of social Justice, that’s called vision. I rest with the side of vision.
The Arkansas legislature passed a bill making it much harder to get citizen-initiated things on the ballot. This year, when an unpopular school voucher program passed in the legislature, the AG refused twice to certify language in a citizen-initiated proposal to put the issue to a statewide vote. The long delay made it nearly impossible to get enough signatures before the deadline. Nonetheless, the petition came VERY close to enough signatures through hard work by many volunteers. Another strike against Democracy.
Heather -I'm so grateful for your letters, your research, citations, and insights. Democracy can only succeed when a society is informed, educated, and engaged. Your continuing efforts to educate and inform are no less than heroic.
Thank you!
'But the implications of making it harder for voters to change laws stretched beyond Ohio...' (Letter)
I think that this statement in today's Letter is a crucial one.
It just may be that the majority of voters in Ohio's election were voting not only to protect their right to abortion but their rights altogether - all together. Voters are getting wise to the Republican Party's moves, through state legislatures and by any means to rob American citizens of their rights for the Republican politicians' self-interest. We are seeing positive signs of Americans protecting the rights of all American citizens. We the people are seeing the light!
I did check FB and was glad to see you were safe and sound. Thank you so much, Professor Richardson!
Ohioan dialing in. Not only did I vote early, I took a carload of legal voters with me and, as a state, we shut that shit down! Republicans are about to go through some things this November and the next.
Protecting our national monuments and associated lands from development and mining is in the interest of all Americans. Mining and drilling on these lands are shortsighted and will only scar and pollute the land and groundwater. Furthermore, Native Americans were promised representatives to our government and it is about time we give them the Representatives and Senators they need to represent them equally.
It definetly shows folks care about you Heather! I actually got to thinking about who I can possibly read on a daily basis that meets your caliber.
So bottom line, take care of yourself and don’t lose sleep over the internet.
Is this Ohio vote another sign that voters are beginning to pay attention to how quickly their rights are being taken away. Ohio has been dragged down by a badly gerrymandered legislature that has abused its power in many ways. Yet, Ohio voted for J.D. Vance against a good centrist Democrat and it wasn’t even that close.
But maybe women are important in America. Maybe, as we saw in Michigan, enough is enough. The liberals got very organized for this. They cared and they voted. If it can happen in Ohio that would be huge. Still, the attention must be paid, money must be raised, and the struggle for freedom and democracy is an (almost) every day thing — we can’t go to the beach with storms like we had yesterday. I hope people are noticing that his summer had different and dangerous weather. Paul Gosar doesn’t believe that we should pay attention to that either.
Way to go Ohio!
Rest assured, unlike Republican Teddy Roosevelt, a future Republican president will undo all this and open up the treasured lands for gas and oil exploration. The anti-Native, anti-environment folks on the "right" (too often wrong) will be happy to resurrect their racism and their earth-destruction goals.