In a special election on August 8^th, registered voters in Ohio will be asked to cast their “yes” or “no” vote on Issue 1, a proposed change in how citizens can amend the Ohio Constitution.

     If passed, Issue 1 would change the requirements for a citizen petition to amend the Ohio Constitution that have been in place since 1912.

     Under the current constitution, signatures equaling at least 5% of the total vote in the last gubernatorial election are required from 44 counties to place a constitutional amendment on the Ohio Ballot. The Constitutional Amendment proposed by Issue 1 would up that requirement to require signatures from all 88 Ohio counties.

     Both the current and proposed constitutional amendment process would require signatures equal to at least 10 percent of the total vote in the last gubernatorial election.

     Under the current constitutional amendment process, if petitioners are determined to not have enough valid signatures, they will be allotted 10 days to collect and file additional signatures. Under the process proposed by Issue 1, petitioners would have to start all over again.

     The current constitutional amendment process requires a majority of voters (50% plus one) to approve a constitutional amendment. The process proposed by Issue 1 would require approval of 60% of voters to pass a constitutional amendment.

Voting

     To vote in the upcoming special election, you must be a registered voter in Ohio.  The deadline to register to vote in time for the August 8^th Special Election is July 10^th. You can check to see if you are registered at http://voterlookup.ohiosos.gov. If you are not registered to vote, or need to update your address, you can do that at: http://olvr.ohiosos.gov.

     Early in person and absentee voting for the Special Election will begin on July 11^th. The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is August 1^st.