It's Election Day in the Buckeye State.
Ohio residents have two major issues to consider this election. The first — Issue 1 — is whether to vote in favor of or against an amendment to the Ohio constitution that would recognize abortion as a medical right.
The second — Issue 2 — is whether to vote in favor of or against a proposed law that would legalize and regulate cannabis use.
What is Ohio Issue 1?
The approved ballot language available on sample ballots says the proposed amendment would:
"Establish in the Constitution of the State of Ohio an individual right to one's own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion;
"Create legal protections for any person or entity that assists a person with receiving reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion;
"Prohibit the State from directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing, or prohibiting abortion before an unborn child is determined to be viable, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means;
"Grant a pregnant woman's treating physician the authority to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether an unborn child is viable;
"Only allow the State to prohibit an abortion after an unborn child is determined by a pregnant woman's treating physician to be viable and only if the physician does not consider the abortion necessary to protect the pregnant woman's life or health; and
"Always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability if, in the treating physician's determination, the abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant woman's life or health."
If passed, the amendment will become effective 30 days after the election — on Dec. 7.
What exactly would Issue 1 do if passed?
The abortion amendment, as phrased, would establish “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom” with what backers describe as “reasonable limits.” The proposal would prohibit government restrictions on abortions and other forms of reproductive care up until the point of fetal viability outside the womb.
After that, state laws could limit abortions, as long as they maintained exceptions for the life or health of the pregnant patient.
Viability falls typically around the 24th week of pregnancy, close to the point where most abortions are illegal in Ohio now. That juncture long stood as the standard under Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that had guaranteed nationwide abortion access, until it was overturned last year. That decision kicked abortion access decisions back to the states.
While the language of the amendment focuses primarily on abortion, it also lists other rights that would be cemented into the state constitution, including miscarriage care, fertility treatments, contraception, and the right to continue one’s own pregnancy.
The use of contraception is not illegal in Ohio, and though it’s commonly called “birth control,” the medications are also used for other conditions like ovarian cysts, polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis symptoms.
What is Ohio Issue 2?
The approved ballot language available on sample ballots says the proposed law would:
"Define adult use cannabis to mean marijuana as defined in Section 3719.01 of the Revised Code and establish the Division of Cannabis Control (the "Division") within the Department of Commerce;
"Authorize the Division to regulate, investigate, and penalize adult use cannabis operators, adult use testing laboratories, and individuals required to be licensed;
"Legalize and regulate the cultivation, processing, sale, purchase, possession, home grow, and use of cannabis by adults at least twenty-one years of age;
"Create additional protections for individuals who engage in permitted adult use cannabis conduct;
"Establish the cannabis social equity and jobs program and require the Department of Development to certify program applicants based on social and economic disadvantage;
"Define 'social disadvantage' to include membership in a racial or ethnic minority group, disability status, gender, or long-term residence in an area of high unemployment;
"Shield certain confidential information from disclosure to the public, including but not limited to any information reported to or collected by the Division that identifies or would tend to identify any adult use cannabis consumer and prohibit the Department of Development from releasing certain application information as public records;
"Require the Division to provide preferential treatment to applicants who have qualified for the cannabis social equity and jobs program based on social disadvantage when issuing level III adult use cannabis cultivator licenses and dispensary licenses;
"Prohibit certain local government entities from limiting specific research, levying a tax, or charge on adult use operations, their owner, or their property not generally charged on other business, and prohibit certain local government entities from prohibiting or limiting adult use cannabis home grow or prohibiting or restricting an activity authorized by the proposed law;
"Authorize a landlord or an employer to prohibit the adult use of cannabis in certain circumstances, and prohibit the operation of a motor vehicle while using or under the influence of adult use cannabis and from using any other combustible adult use cannabis while a passenger in a motor vehicle;
"Limit criminal liability for certain financial institutions that provide financial services to any lawful adult use cannabis operator or testing laboratory licensed under the proposed law;
"Require the Division to enter into an agreement with the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to create a program for cannabis addiction services;
"Provide for the creation of five funds in the state treasury: the adult use tax fund; the cannabis social equity and jobs fund; the host community cannabis fund; the substance abuse and addiction fund; and the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund; and
"Provide for taxation of 10 percent on the sale of adult use cannabis by dispensaries in addition to usual sales taxes and require that all monies collected from the 10 percent tax levied to be deposited into the adult use tax fund and quarterly distributed as follows:
- 36 percent to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund;
- 36 percent to the host community cannabis facilities fund;
- 25 percent to the substance abuse and addiction fund;
- and three percent to the division of cannabis control and tax commission fund."
If passed, the law will become effective 30 days after the election — on Dec. 7.
What exactly would Issue 2 do if passed?
If passed, the law would legalize and regulate recreational cannabis for adults 21 years of age and older. Individual Ohioans would also be able to grow up to six plants but up to 12 per household.
This is one difference from the 2015 proposal, which would have only allowed 10 growing locations.
This proposal would also impose a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction, which activists say would raise $350 to $400 million in new tax revenue annually.
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 7, 2023 election was Oct. 10.
You can find your polling location here.
A sample ballot for Hamilton County can be found below — Issues 1 and 2 are the same on all county ballots, but other local issues will vary depending on which county you vote in.
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