Ballot Reform Measure Introduced

11/30/2018

House leadership this week introduced a bipartisan sponsored ballot reform measure, House Joint Resolution 19 (HJR19). The resolution, co-sponsored by Sarah LaTourette (R-Chesterland) and Glenn Holmes (D-McDonald), would change both Ohio’s constitutional amendment process and citizen-initiated statute process. Ohio’s constitutional amendment process has been long criticized as too easy to gain ballot access, and often the constitution was considered “for sale” to out-of-state special interests. HJR19 would tighten the qualifications for a constitutional amendment on the ballot to pass by, among other things, increasing the percentage of electors required to approve the amendment from a simple majority to 60%. Conversely, the resolution would also lower the threshold for citizen-initiated statutes to make it to the ballot. 11/29/2018

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