COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s minimum wage might still be $5.15 an hour, casino gambling still would be illegal, and recent economic development and conservation programs favored by state officials and business leaders would have failed, had a higher voter approval threshold proposed by Republican state lawmakers been in effect in previous decades.
And that’s just since the year 2000. Going further back in history, other proposals that would have failed to clear the higher bar include alcohol Prohibition, an official recognition of women’s suffrage, allowing non-white people and women into the Ohio National Guard, and ending the practice of party-line, straight-ticket voting.
On Aug. 8, voters will decide State Issue 1, which would require future proposed changes to the Ohio constitution to get a 60% supermajority in a statewide vote, compared to the simple-majority standard that’s been in place for over a century. The proposal also would make it harder for amendments to qualify for the ballot by making it significantly harder for amendment campaigns to collect the voter signatures that are required to put their proposed law up for a vote.
The 60% approval requirement would apply to any number of potential future issues. But Republicans specifically fast-tracked State Issue 1 to try to block a proposed abortion-rights amendment that could appear on the ballot in November. The move to restrict ballot issue access is part of a larger national fight that generally pits...
Patricia White, 70, of Old Greenwich, received a nine-month prison sentence for submitting false claims for unclaimed properties to around 30 state treasuries. HARRISBURG, Pa. — Months after her br...