(PatriotNewsDaily.com) – On Tuesday, Ohio voters rejected the abortion measures promoted by the GOP which would have made it harder for the state’s constitution to be changed. With Issue 1 rejected, a simple majority is going to be enough for any future constitutional amendments to be passed. Had the issue been accepted then any constitution change would require a 60 percent supermajority.
This decision is also likely to play a big role in a fall campaign focused on abortion rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade, which provided protection for abortion across the country. While abortion rights were not actually on the special election ballot, this move marked an important setback for GOP members who wanted tougher restrictions on abortions to be placed within the state. Ohio Republicans had hoped that with Issue 1 they were going to fight against the initiative taken by citizens to have abortion rights enshrined in Ohio.
In other states where voters were given the option to protect abortion rights, they had selected to do so. This included Republican states like Kentucky and Kansas.
In this special election close to 700,000 voters either cast mail or early in-person ballots. Early turnout was also high because of the Democratic-leaning counties within the state, including Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus.
This particular rejection is important because, as in every other state where abortion was on the ballot, while the measures had passed, they had done so with less than 60 percent of the vote. Last year, an AP VoteCast polling also found that 59 percent of Ohio voters believed that abortions should remain legal in the state.
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