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Election 2017 Review: One Issue Wins, One Loses Big, And Proposed Changes To The Process To Bring Them To The Ballot

Election day 2017 is over, and in spite of record-setting money in the Issue 2 campaign, voters were largely unmotivated to cast ballots this time. But while just under 30 percent turned out, they definitely seemed to know what they wanted to do. They voted overwhelmingly for Issue 1, the crime victims' amendment. And they also strongly opposed Issue 2, the Drug Price Relief Act.

Issue 2 was an initiated statute – a proposed law that citizens or private groups can bring forward. There have only been 12 attempts at initiated statutes since the constitution allowed them in 1912 – but only three have passed. Consultant Tracy Sabetta was part of the last one to be approved, the indoor smoking ban in 2006. Sabetta and others who’ve worked on ballot issues are very concerned about a proposal by Rep. Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg), who's proposed big changes in citizen statute and amendment campaigns. Among those are two activists who've had both ballot success and failure - Rob Walgate from the Ohio Roundtable and Catherine Turcer from Common Cause Ohio.