'As biased as possible': Ohio Republicans attempting to 'rig' November ballot proposals

Although President Barack Obama carried Ohio in both 2008 and 2012, the Buckeye State has since been a frequent source of frustration for Democrats. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was reelected in 2018, yet Ohio has been trending Republican in recent years.

One of the ways Ohio Democrats have been fighting back is via ballot measure proposals. But according to Talking Points Memo's Kate Riga, Republicans have been looking for ways to "rig" November's ballot measures on everything from recreational marijuana use to abortion to redistricting.

Route Fifty's Daniel C. Vock notes that Republicans in the Ohio State Legislature were hoping to change the state's constitution so that it would be harder to get ballot measures passed. That effort failed, however, and according to Riga, Ohio Republicans have a Plan B: distorting measures that make it to the ballot.

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Democratic Ohio State Rep. Elliot Forhan told Talking Points Memo (TPM) that Republicans "know that they have to put their thumb — and all their fingers, and their elbows and knees — on their side of the scale to make it as biased as possible in order to have any chance at winning."

Forhan added, "It goes to the bigger picture of why are we here at all — because we have a democracy in the state of Ohio that is not reflective of the will of the voters."

In Ohio, Democrats are proposing, via ballot initiatives, legalizing recreational marijuana use and enshrining abortion rights in the state's constitution. And Republicans are trying to undermining the abortion measure by altering the language in it — for example, "unborn child" instead of "fetus."

Vock notes that the marijuana proposal "before voters" in Ohio "is on whether to create a state law, not an amendment to the state's constitution."

READ MORE: Republicans facing 'a no-win conundrum' after Ohio ballot measure fails: report

Forhan said that although most Ohio voters have made up their minds about these proposals, he worries about those who haven't.

The Democrat told Talking Points Memo, "Look, most voters will already know what they're gonna do. But not all of them."

READ MORE: Ohio's GOP secretary of state brutally mocked after his amendment goes down in flames

Find Talking Points Memo's full report at this link and Route Fifty's complete article here.