Why so many Republicans voted ‘No’ on Issue 1 in Ohio

Fifteen counties that voted for Trump in 2020 opposed the Republican proposal to raise the bar for passing constitutional amendments, while 66 counties that supported the former president voted in favor of Issue 1. All seven counties that swung for Joe Biden toed the Democratic line and opposed Tuesday’s ballot measure.

The measure, known as Issue 1, was the only item on the ballot. It would have altered the state’s more-than-a-century-old rules allowing Ohioans to amend the state constitution with a simple majority, and instead would have required 60 percent support. Opponents of changing the rules contended the measure was anti-democratic; the other side argued that modifications to the state constitution should have overwhelming support.

While Tuesday’s question to voters wasn’t technically on abortion rights, the special election has been viewed as a proxy war over the issue, which helped Democrats in the midterm elections and is expected to again be a political flash point in the 2024 race for president, the House and the Senate.

Since the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion last year, voters in three states — Michigan, Vermont and California — backed constitutional amendments ensuring access to the procedure. While voters in two conservative-leaning states, Kansas and Kentucky, rejected ballot measures that would have changed their constitutions to explicitly state that they don’t include a right to an abortion.

The issue of abortion has continued to break through party walls. A Washington Post review of six state ballot measure votes since last year — including the one in Ohio — shows that in 500 of 510 counties, access to abortion outperformed Biden’s 2020 results.

Once again, an abortion-related measure breaks partisan barriers

In Ohio, abortion rights supporters and advocates of keeping the ballot measure process intact shot down Issue 1 by 57 to 43 percent with more than 3 million state residents voting, according to initial tallies.

“This massive turnout when this was literally the only question for voters to turn out for just shows how potent this issue is and how the energy and enthusiasm around this issue is not fading,” said Ryan Stitzlein, a vice president at NARAL Pro-Choice America, a prominent abortion rights group.

On the other side, antiabortion groups have accused Republicans of not doing enough to persuade voters to change the rules for amending the constitution.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, had the highest percentage — nearly 77 percent — of voters who opposed raising the threshold for constitutional amendments. The highest support for the measure — nearly 82 percent — was in Putnam County, located in the northwestern part of the state.