Ohio election at center of abortion rights battle brings high early voting

A controversial election with major implications for abortion rights in Ohio brought out nearly 642,000 early voters, according to voting data from the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

Voters in the Buckeye State ultimately rejected the ballot measure Tuesday that would have raised the threshold for changing the state’s constitution.

Data showed a total of 63,496 residents voted early and absentee just last weekend. According to the data, 35,321 people voted on Saturday and another 28,175 voted on Sunday. Last weekend’s numbers brought the total number of early and absentee ballots cast to just under 642,000.  

The Secretary of State’s office said the numbers mark a “significant increase in voter activity,” compared to the statewide primary election in August 2022, where 142,989 early votes were cast in races for Ohio’s Senate and House. The early voting numbers are also over double the votes in last May’s primary election, where 263,542 early votes were cast statewide. 

The resolution, known as Issue 1, would have raised the threshold for amending the state constitution from a simple majority to a 60 percent supermajority. Tuesday’s election comes after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in June that the election could proceed as scheduled, although Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed a law earlier this year banning nearly all August elections. 

Proposed by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) and state Rep. Brin Stewart (R) last November, the measure was meant to limit the influence of special interests and lobbyists looking to amend the constitution, advocates said. However, abortion rights advocates pushed back on raising the threshold to amend the state’s constitution, claiming it would have made it harder to pass a separate ballot measure in November that would codify abortion rights in the state’s constitution. 

The measure on the Nov. 8 ballot would establish a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” with “reasonable limits.” Akin to the standard once set under Roe v. Wade, the amendment would allow abortion up to the point when a fetus can survive outside of the womb, usually around 24 weeks into a pregnancy. 

The proposed amendment states “every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.” 

The polls closed at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Ohio.