“The Dispatch Editorial Board urges Ohioans to vote “no”
on this statehouse con.”

Friday, August 4, 2023 CONTACT: Cameron Keir | [email protected] | 614-359-5346

Columbus, OH — As Columbus voters cast early ballots this weekend or prepare to vote Tuesday, August 8 on Issue 1, the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board published a scathing and direct column officially endorsing a NO vote on Issue 1. Calling Issue 1 the “most significant” question Ohio voters have faced in decades, the column simply defines it as a statehouse con. 

The Editorial Board’s stance also aligns with Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. After previously endorsing a NO vote on Issue 1, Mayor Ginther recently published a column in the Dispatch, directly discussing the impacts it would have on Columbus neighbors: Everything from neighborhood wages to school funding to reproductive rights is at risk. 

“Mayor Ginther is vehemently opposed to the undemocratic political power grab that is Issue 1. Seeing one of Ohio’s largest newspapers align with the Mayor, every living former Ohio Governor from both parties and a bipartisan coalition of prominent leaders and organizations should show Columbus voters Issue 1 is just plain wrong. The Mayor continues to urge neighbors to talk with friends and family, make a plan to vote NO on Issue 1,” said Ginther campaign spokesperson Cameron Keir. 

Read more from the Columbus Dispatch Opinion column HERE and below:

• If fairness lived in the hearts of some of Ohio’s elected officials instead of deceit, voters would not be headed to vote early for the August 8 special election.
• Issue 1 is one of the most significant questions Ohio voters will be asked in generations.
• For 111 years, Ohioans have been able to seek votes from fellow voters when they believe “an issue is not addressed properly (or at all) in the Ohio Constitution.”
• Sixty percent of voter approval would be required instead of a simple majority of 50% plus one if Issue 1 — a statehouse con tied with pretty ribbon — is successful.
• It is shameful that the $20 million, single-issue August election is taking place.
• The Republican legislators who put Issue 1 on the ballot know all too well that August elections are wasteful and hit voters while they are not paying attention during the dog days of summer, so turnout is low.
• Just months ago, these power-hungry hypocrites voted to limit most August special elections for those very reasons. They were right then, they are wrong now.
• Ohio voters will be asked to annihilate the simple principle of “one person, one vote” and replace it with minority control when it comes to citizen-led constitutional amendments.
• Forty percent of voters will call the shots for the majority. How is that fair?
• A “yes” vote on Issue 1 would be a blow against one of the best-known notions Abraham Lincoln expressed in the Gettysburg Address: the government should be of the people and for the people.
• Recent divisive proposed and approved legislation on issues ranging from whom can use which bathrooms to barring facts from college discussions shows they do not care about “the people’s will” if the people’s will differs from their own.
• If those in support of Issue 1 truly believed this was good for democracy and Ohio, they would have the vote in November when Ohioans expect to vote. Moreover, they would not be speaking out of both sides of their mouths about the reason the changes to our constitution are “needed.”
• This election is special in ways that go beyond the date ballots will be counted. It speaks to Ohio’s heart and whether or not undemocratic forces will be successful in corrupting it with very big lies.
• We should not be here as a state, but the August 8 special election will happen, nevertheless.
• Lawmakers do not think you are paying attention, that your vote should count or that you will exercise your long-fought right to vote.
• Prove them wrong by voting “no” on Issue 1.

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