Originally Published: August 25, 2023 11:03 a.m.
Supporters of the major upcoming Ohio abortion amendment, which would enshrine a right to the procedure in the state's constitution, thought they were out of the woods.
Earlier this month, they defeated a state Republican-led attempt to raise the threshold for citizen-initiated ballot proposals to 60 percent — which would have included the abortion one in November — in decisive fashion, despite the election being held in sleepy August.
But Republicans' efforts to rig the game in their favor continues.
On Thursday, the Ohio Ballot Board approved a summary of the amendment text, which will appear on the ballots, that bears little resemblance to the full amendment. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) — a champion of the unsuccessful 60 percent threshold initiative, opponent of the abortion amendment and 2024 U.S. Senate candidate — provided the swing vote to approve the summary.
He also revealed that he had a hand in crafting the new summary, saying that "having worked extensively on drafting this, I do believe it's fair and accurate."
Advocates of the amendment had pushed for having its full text appear on the ballot. LaRose shot that down, responding that the full amendment would be available on posters at voting locations, per the Ohio Capital Journal.
"They 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," Ohio Rep. Elliot Forhan (D), a member of the ballot board, told TPM.
"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," he added, pointing to the state's aggressive gerrymandering, along with a lack of campaign finance regulations and transparency measures.
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