A hard-fought question about Ohio’s abortion rights is one of many consequential issues on statewide ballots Tuesday, with other states considering the “right to repair” and whether the oldest Baby Boomers should get to wear judicial robes a few years longer.
The Ohio initiative (Issue 1), which seeks to bake reproductive rights into the state constitution, will yield lessons for 2024 for candidates and for those preparing for similar ballot questions. Voters have been exposed to a wide range of television and online arguments, including an ad that opens with foreboding music and white words against a stark black background as it reminds viewers of a well-known case.
“Government should never force a rape victim to have their attacker’s child. Never,” says the narrator in the spot placed by Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights. “Especially a ten-year-old.”
The campaign of opposition group Protect Women Ohio includes ads that focus on parental rights and that warns of the possibility of viable pregnancies aborted.
“Legal experts say Issue 1 allows for abortion after viability for mental, emotional and even financial reasons, not just to protect the life of the mother that’s not in their commercials,” says a woman identified in the ad as Meredith from Columbus. “This issue isn’t black and white. I’m pro-,choice but Issue 1 goes too far.”
As of today, more than $39 million has been spent on TV and digital messaging—$15.9 million by opponents of the ballot measure and $23.7 million by supporters, according to data compiled by AdImpact. Michael Bloomberg, the majority owner of Bloomberg Government’s parent company, contributed $1 million to Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights.
READ MORE from Eric Heisig:
Ohio Abortion Measure Tests Impact of ‘Unborn Child’ on Ballot
Court Retirement
Texas is asking voters whether the mandatory retirement age for a state judge or state Supreme Court justice should rise to 79 from the current 75.
Chief Justice Nathan Hecht (R) is 74. If voters reject the age increase (Proposition 13), he’ll have to leave at the end of next year. Hecht, who declined to comment, has served on the Supreme Court since 1989 and has been chief justice since 2015.
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have mandatory judicial retirement ages, with Vermont allowing seniors on the bench the longest: age 90. — Ryan Autullo
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Energy
Maine voters will decide whether to dramatically reshape electric utilities in the state.
Their ballots ask whether the electorate wants to create Pine Tree Power Co., a nonprofit, consumer-owned utility (Question 3), effectively replacing two investor-owned utilities that supply nearly all of the state’s electricity.
READ MORE from Drew Hutchinson:
Maine’s Electricity Ballot Question Faces Legal Snags if Passed
Recreational Cannabis
Ohio’s vote on whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older (Issue 2) could have a huge impact on the state socially and economically. If successful, Ohio would become the 24th one to allow any adult to indulge.
Under the measure, there would be limits of 2.5 ounces and six home-grown plans. Purchases would be subject to an extra 10% tax that has the potential of eventually creating a revenue windfall of more than $400 million a year, according to an Ohio State University study. — Eric Heisig
Right to Repair
The “right to repair” movement gets its next test with a ballot question in Maine (Issue 4) asking whether voters want automakers to be required to give independent repair shops the data they need to fix electronics-equipped vehicles.
A coalition of activists and repair shops argue its approval would help consumers save money while empowering small businesses. Opponents warn that drivers would have to worry about hacking. “That’s what the ballot initiative seeks,” the Alliance for Automotive Innovation argued in a memo. The industry group said legal changes were “entirely unnecessary” before backing legislation months later to compete with the referendum as it gained momentum.
Massachusetts approved a similar law in 2020. New York, Minnesota and Colorado enacted their own versions of right to repair bills earlier this year. — Zach Williams
Taxing the Rich
Texas is asking its voters to make a preemptive strike on behalf of their richest neighbors. That state’s proposed don’t-tax-the-rich constitutional amendment (Proposition 3) stands out because voters are being asked to outlaw something that isn’t even being discussed, though it certainly has been proposed elsewhere.
READ MORE from Ryan Autullo and Jennifer Kay:
Texas Voters Weigh In On Outlawing Extra Taxes on the Wealthy
Abortion Dominates Supreme Court Race in Pivotal Pennsylvania
THREE MORE
Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Kay Granger (R-Texas), and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) are the latest to call it quits.
In all three districts, the primaries will be more significant than the general elections. Joe Biden won Blumenauer’s Portland district by 47 points, while Donald Trump prevailed by 18 points in Granger’s Fort Worth-area district and by 19 points in Buck’s eastern Colorado constituency.
Texas’ March primary comes first. Look to see if the new Republican nominee will be a more combative, Trump-aligned Republican than Granger, the House Appropriations Committee chair who’s had a good working relationship with Democratic counterparts.
Days before her retirement announcement, Granger was among the Republicans who thwarted hard-right Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid for the speakership.
We’ll be watching for more retirement announcements this month and next; members often use holiday breaks to decide whether they and their families are up for another campaign. — Greg Giroux
Resources
- Our past coverage: BGOV Archive and BLAW Archive
- Tracking Departures in the US House and Senate
- Litigation Trackers: ABC News, Loyola Law School, and Brennan Center
- BGOV OnPoint: US Senate Elections
- BGOV OnPoint: US House Elections
- BGOV OnPoint: Gubernatorial Elections
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