Ohio Republicans target majority rule

Ohio voters should not limit their own power, but that's exactly what Republican state lawmakers are asking them to do. On Wednesday, The GOP-dominated General Assembly pushed through a resolution that sends to voters an amendment that would make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution by raising the threshold to do so from 50 percent plus one vote to 60 percent. (In other words, a minority of voters could reject the will of the majority.) The Republican proposal also would make the signature gathering process much harder. Making matters worse, Republicans will put their proposed amendment — which ironically only needs a simple majority to be added to the state Constitution — before voters in a special election Aug. 8. Disappointingly, three members of Lorain County's Statehouse delegation, state Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, and state Reps. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, and Dick Stein, R-Norwalk, voted in favor of the measure. State Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, opposed it. The level of hypocrisy involved in the GOP's machinations is astounding. Among the justifications offered up by some Republicans, such as Secretary of State Frank LaRose, for making the Constitution harder to amend was to limit the alleged influence of out-of-state special interests. (Never mind, apparently, that Ohio voters have been pretty discerning when it comes to amending the Constitution.) Yet Republicans aren't complaining about Dick Uihlein, a conservative billionaire from Illinois, bankrolling a political action committee that supports the 60 percent threshold. Their silence isn't all that surprising given that the GOP's fearmongering about special interests was a canard. The real reason Republicans want to make amending the Constitution harder is that they're afraid of what a simple majority of voters might do if left unchecked. Of immediate concern is a proposed amendment that would enshrine abortion and other reproductive rights into the Constitution. That would interfere with GOP plans to strictly limit, if not outright ban, abortions in the Buckeye State. Pro-choice groups are actively gathering signatures for their abortion rights amendment, which is widely expected to appear on the November ballot. Polling shows that a majority of Ohioans favor maintaining abortion access. If the GOP can persuade voters to make it harder to amend the Constitution in August, the new threshold would apply to the November election, decreasing the chances of the abortion rights amendment passing. Wednesday's vote came mere months after Republicans voted to largely eliminate August special elections, which they correctly argued weren't worth the expense. Such elections are costly and notoriously low turnout affairs that strain elections officials. In this case, the cost doesn't appear to matter to Republicans, who usually love to crow about their fiscal discipline. Nor do they seem to care about burdening elections officials, who were largely opposed to adding the special election. As for the low turnout? Republicans are counting on most voters skipping the polls. They're hoping that only certain key constituencies, such as hardcore conservatives and abortion rights opponents, turn out and push their amendment over the top in August. It might not work out that way, though. The idea of making the Constitution harder to amend, especially in an August election, has drawn fierce opposition, including from former governors and attorneys general of both parties and a coalition of 240 groups. There will be a robust campaign to turn out voters. There's another wrinkle that could derail the August special election. Rather than pass a separate bill allowing special elections dealing with Constitutional amendment, Republicans included that language in their resolution. That could put it in conflict with a 1967 Ohio Supreme Court decision, The Ohio Capital Journal reported. Republicans are probably relying on a compliant GOP-dominated Ohio Supreme Court to help them smooth over any legal wrinkles that arise. After all, the biggest thorn in the GOP's side in the redistricting mess last year was independent-minded former Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican who is no longer on the court. She repeatedly sided with the court's Democrats in striking down unconstitutionally gerrymandered redistricting maps. (It's also worth noting that there's work underway on new anti-gerrymandering amendments, something Republicans likely will oppose.) One of the reasons Republicans even had the votes to push through their undemocratic scheme on Wednesday was because GOP mapmakers basically ignored the court's demands for fair maps. Eventually time ran out and the state was forced to proceed with gerrymandered maps that gave the GOP supermajorities in the state House and Senate. Empowered, Republicans are largely free to do as they please. One of the few checks remaining on all that power is the voters. If Republicans get their way in August, that, too, would be severely constrained.