What You Need to Know About State Issue #1

During the August 8th Special Election, voters will be asked to weigh in on State Issue #1, officially titled “ELEVATING THE STANDARDS TO QUALIFY FOR AN INITIATED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND TO PASS A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.”

If passed, State Issue #1 would amend Ohio’s Constitution to raise the voting threshold for citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to 60% (currently a simple majority) and require petitioners to gather signatures from at least 5% of eligible voters in all 88 counties (currently only 44 counties). State Issue #1 would also eliminate the (10-day) cure period currently in place for petitioners who fail to satisfy the state’s filing requirements. 

The Greater Akron Chamber recently facilitated an internal review of State Issue #1 in response to a number of key stakeholders asking for us to take a position. As part of this process, we educated business leaders on the pros and cons of the issue and provided resources for their review. Following a thorough conversation, GAC’s Government Affairs Committee voted to formally recommend that we take no position in support or opposition, effectively making us neutral on State Issue #1. As part of this decision, GAC committed to providing our members with educational resources on State Issue #1 and to actively promote related information leading up to the election. 

Click here to watch the information session we hosted with proponents and opponents of State Issue #1. Guest speakers include State Representative Brian Stewart,12th District (proponent), Rick Carfagna, Senior Vice President of the Ohio Chamber (proponent), and Collin Marozzi, Deputy Policy Director of the ACLU (opponent).

For more information, contact John Rizzo, Vice President of Government Affairs, at jrizzo@greaterakronchamber.org.

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