Ohio Special Election Scheduled August 8 - State and Federal Communications

May 12, 2023  •  

Ohio Special Election Scheduled August 8

Lawmakers voted to schedule a special election on August 8, with the adoption of Senate Joint Resolution 2.

The special election is for a ballot issue proposing a constitutional amendment to require approval by 60%  of voters to approve any constitutional amendment which would be effective immediately upon voter approval. The current requirement is for a majority vote.

The constitutional amendment also modifies procedures for an initiative petition proposing a constitutional amendment by prohibiting any additional signatures to be filed for the initiative petition, if found to be insufficient.

If a referendum petition or an initiative petition proposing a law is determined to be insufficient, ten additional days will be allowed for the filing of additional signatures.

The amendment also changes the signature requirements for an initiative petition proposing an amendment to the constitution to require from each county of the state petitions bearing the signatures of not less than five per cent of the electors of the county, while for all other initiative, supplementary, and referendum petitions the signature requirement remains unchanged, requiring petitions from one-half of the counties bearing signatures of one-half the percentage of electors in the county.

These changes would be effective January 1, 2024, if approved by voters.

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