Label
Council Members Melden, Komives, Gadus, Hartman, Hobbs, McPherson, Whitman, Williams, Sarantou and Moline
Title
A Resolution asserting Toledo City Council's opposition to create an illegal August special election and to urge citizens to vote NO on Issue 1 to maintain Ohioans' freedom to place constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Summary
WHEREAS, Ohioans have had the right to amend their Ohio Constitution through a simple majority for over 110 years; and
WHEREAS, Ohioans voted to grant themselves with a simple majority the freedom to place Constitutional Amendments directly on the ballot in response to a legislature that had become one of the most disrespectful in the country and refused to heed the will of the people; and
WHEREAS, Issue 1 would end majority rule in Ohio by raising the threshold for passage of a constitutional amendment to 60 percent, thus giving 40 percent of the voters the ability to block the will of the majority; and
WHEREAS, Issue 1 would undermine the sacred principle of one person one vote; and
WHEREAS, Ohioans have not abused the right to place constitutional amendments on the ballot, with just 71 citizen-initiated amendments on the ballot since 1913; and
WHEREAS, the Ohio General Assembly all but outlawed August special elections during Lame Duck session in December 2022 with the passage of HB 458; and
WHEREAS, the legislature has called for a low-turnout special election for Issue 1 on August 8, at the behest of special interests and out-of-state donors that will waste millions of precious Ohio tax dollars; and
WHEREAS, the process to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot is already an onerous task, requiring the collection of hundreds of thousands of valid signatures from 44 of Ohio's 88 counties; and
WHEREAS, by including the need to collect a certain threshold of signatures from all 88 counties almost guarantees that only extremely wealthy out of sta...
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