Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said Tuesday was a “sad day for Ohio” and a warning for other states after Ohio voters rejected a measure that would have increased the threshold required to pass a constitutional amendment.
Ohio has used a simple-majority requirement since 1912, but the measure, Issue 1, would have bumped the threshold up to 60 percent.
“It is a sad day for Ohio and a warning for pro-life states across the nation,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday night. “Millions of dollars and liberal dark money flooded Ohio to ensure they have a path to buy their extreme policies in a pro-life state. Tragically, some sat on the sideline while outsider liberal groups poured millions into Ohio.”
The group said progressives used that money to “mislead the people of Ohio.”
A campaign committee opposing Issue 1, called “One Person, One Vote,” raised $14.8 million and spent $10.4 million on its efforts, according to campaign-finance reports. Around $13 million of the money raised came from groups rather than individuals. Donors included the progressive dark-money group Sixteen Thirty Fund, which contributed $2.5 million, and the Ohio Education Association and its national affiliate, which donated $2 million. More than $1.8 million came from the Tides Foundation, and the UCLA donated $1 million.
Of the $14.8 million raised, more donations came from Washington, D.C., or California-based donors than from Ohio-based donors.
Meanwhile, Protect Our Constitution, the campaign committee in support of Issue 1, raised $4.9 million — 82.5 percent of which came from Illinois conservative billionaire Richard Uihlein. The group had spent $1.6 million as of last week.
The “no” choice to keep the simple-majority threshold under current law was winning with 57 percent with an estimated 97.9 percent of the vote counted, according to the Washington Post.
Ahead of the special election, supporters and opponents of the measure agreed that the vote could have far-reaching implications. Special-interest groups committed millions of dollars to the race to ensure that it would remain easier to push their legislative agenda via ballot amendment.
Conservatives warned that leaving the threshold at 50 percent plus one vote could cause Ohio to become a blueprint for progressive groups to circumvent the normal legislative process in states across the country.
Issue 1 would have had the most immediate impact on an ACLU-backed ballot proposal that will come up for a vote in November. That constitutional amendment would effectively outlaw any restrictions on abortion and other procedures that involve reproduction, including gender-transition surgeries. It would also remove parental-consent and notification requirements for minors who undergo the procedures.
“We know that Ohio is really their battleground,” Mehek Cooke, a Republican attorney who has previously served as legal counsel for the Ohio governor’s office, previously told National Review. “They’re hoping that they can virtually create unlimited rights for reproductive decisions” using ballot measures. Efforts to introduce extreme ballot measures also are being undertaken across the country, from New York to Florida, South Dakota to Missouri.