Ohio Senate leaders weigh in on Issue 1, with one week to go

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohioans only have one week left to cast their vote in the state’s single-issue August special election, falling on Aug. 8, and both sides of the campaign are solidifying their message to voters.

“I think it’s going to be an interesting result, and difficult to predict, frankly,” Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. “I’m optimistic, I think that there are a lot of different kinds of groups that are supporting the ‘yes’ side.”

Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the requirements for future amendments, has brought heated debate since the idea was first introduced last November.

“I’m hearing from people really embracing the ‘no’ vote because at the end of the day, they understand that it really is important for the people to have their voice over politicians and the only way to have their voice heard is through the vote,” Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said.

If it passes, Issue 1 would make it more difficult for Ohioans to put a proposed amendment on the ballot and would increase the threshold for any amendment to pass from a 50% plus one majority to 60%.

Issue 1, Antonio said, would take away majority rule. Huffman said, however, it would create consistency in state law. "There won’t be these regular changes to the constitution that come back and forth,” he said.

Last year, GOP lawmakers outlawed recurring August special elections -- but they walked that back to put Issue 1 on the ballot. Some Republicans have said putting it on the August ballot was done in an effort to preempt a vote on codifying abortion rights in November.

“It has energized people, and the more they find out about the issue, they find out about the hypocrisy and the path that got us there,” Antonio said.

Huffman said he believes that "folks will want to change the constitution back again," if the November initiative passes. But Antonio said she believes the GOP majority in the Ohio Statehouse "needs to listen to the people of the state of Ohio."