Ohio Politics Expert Explains the Path to Victory for Issue 1
CV NEWS FEED // Next month, Ohioans will head to the polls to vote on the future of the state’s constitution. Issue 1, which will be on the ballot on August 8, would strengthen the process of passing constitutional amendments by changing the required vote total for passage from a simple majority to 60%.
The measure has caught the attention of pro-life activists who hold that the current threshold would make it significantly easier for abortion giants like Planned Parenthood to push a so-called “right to abortion” into the state constitution.
LOOPcast co-host Erika Ahern spoke with CatholicVote’s National Political Director and Ohio resident Logan Church, who is currently on the ground advocating for a “Yes” vote on Issue 1. Church has worked on over a dozen political campaigns over the past several election cycles, including in her home state of Ohio.
Ahern asked Church why CatholicVote is “taking such an interest in what feels like a local state issue.”
Church replied that the current “50%-plus-one threshold” leaves Ohioans “very vulnerable to outsider groups such as Planned Parenthood or the ACLU,” who have both joined the campaign for the “no” side.
These pro-abortion groups can “decide they’re going to come in and they’re going to purchase our constitution,” Church said.
Church noted that Ohio’s constitution is at substantial risk of being manipulated by special interests in comparison with the constitutions of other states.
“As it stands, there are only 18 states in the U.S. that even allow constitutional amendments on the ballot, and our threshold happens to be one of the lowest,” she said. “What that means for Ohio is essentially our constitution is so vulnerable… it could be changed every single election.”
Church explained that one of the biggest challenges in the battle to pass Issue 1 is overcoming the millions the abortion lobby is pouring into defeating it. “Most of the time when you read those ballot initiatives… you either leave it blank or you just vote on what you’ve heard other people talking about, what you saw on TV, so on and so forth,” Church said:
And that’s where the money comes in. They’re able to flood millions of dollars in and just purchase your vote. Just like that. And you don’t even know what you voted for.
This is particularly important to CatholicVote, Church said, because Issue 1 may be the last line of defense in stopping a proposed “anything-goes” abortion amendment. The upcoming ballot measure would make partial-birth abortion and “sex-changes” for minors without parental consent legal in the state. “This goes way beyond just the pro-life/pro-choice issue, and they want to pull the wool over the voters’ eyes,” she said.
>> OP-ED: VOTE YES ON ISSUE 1 <<
So far, the “no” camp has funneled a whopping $3.3 million in advertising into TV ads alone.
However, Church is optimistic that “yes” can pull through in the end. “Our side is used to being outspent… especially with these abortion initiatives. We do grassroots, they dump money.”
She added that CatholicVote has over 200 volunteers from across the state who are pushing back by “getting involved on the parish level.”
We’re going in and working with priests… and parishioners who are interested in getting involved, and we’re providing them with the resources necessary to make sure their parish gets out to vote.
Church observed that the number of volunteers is “growing by the day,” and the “energy is strong on the ground,” promising signs in what is projected to be a low-turnout election.
“Every Catholic vote we get in the bank puts us one step closer to success,” she said.
In responding to far-left claims that Issue 1 is a “radical idea”, Church said:
There’s absolutely nothing radical about expecting there to be a majority of support for an issue before it changes the state’s constitution. The left is trying to make Ohioans believe … we’re taking away their equality and their voice when in reality we’re saying “No, before you go and alter our state’s constitution, we need to make sure that there’s a strong support on the ground.”
Over 50% of amendments that have been proposed since 2008 that have passed, have passed with well over 60% support.
That’s basically to say, if it doesn’t pass with well over 60% support, maybe Ohioans don’t want it, and maybe it shouldn’t be in our constitution.
When Ahern asked Church why people in other states should pay attention to Issue 1, Church replied “First it’s Ohio, tomorrow it’s you.”
The abortion industry is “going one chess piece at a time,” Church warned:
We saw it in Kansas, we saw it in Michigan, now it’s in Ohio. They’re finding the most vulnerable states and they’re coming for them first. And once they accomplish that, they’re going to take the next step and see how they can attack your state.
Here are some additional resources to answer frequently asked questions about Ohio’s Issue 1.
