Ohio voters just took firm positions on abortion and reproductive rights and adult-use recreational marijuana Tuesday, but gerrymandered Ohio lawmakers are already planning to flout, ignore, challenge, and abuse the voters’ wishes. This is what gerrymandering brings. This is why it’s a fundamental poison in the lifeblood of our republic.
Mere hours after Ohio voters passed the Issue 1 reproductive rights amendment with 56.62%, according to unofficial results, and the Issue 2 recreational marijuana law with 57% (both getting nearly 2.2 million votes), Ohio Republican legislative leaders signaled they would not respect the will of the people.
What they did was actually worse than just saying “No.” They said that former felons could get their voting rights back if they paid all their fines. Except, they didn’t provide any way of figuring out what fines you owed. One government official might say you’re good to go, but then you submit your paperwork and they discover a $5.12 fine three counties over and you get arrested on a felony again.
At least with a firm no, former felons would know where they stand. With this system, they technically can vote again, but practically can’t unless they want to risk going back to prison.