CINCINNATI — The majority of Ohio voters have overwhelmingly rejected Issue 1. This means that the process of making a constitutional amendment in the state will not change.

The biggest cities in the state, including Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and Dayton, all voted to reject the issue.

The majority of people in counties in red voted "no," while the majority of people in the gray counties voted "yes." The majority of counties in Ohio voted in favor of Issue 1, but the majority of voters in the state overall were against it, leading to its rejection.

WCPO staff

Here's a breakdown of how the Tri-State voted:

A total of 482,958 people voted in Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland and Warren counties.

Of those eight counties, Hamilton County was the only one where the majority of people voted to reject Issue 1. More than 154,000 people rejected the issue compared to around 77,000 who voted for it.

In Butler County, the race was a lot closer. Less than 600 votes made the difference. A total of 44,384 people voted in favor of Issue 1 while 43,855 voted against it.

In Warren County, 37,990 people voted "yes" and 33,972 voted "no."

There were about 5,000 votes that made the difference in Clermont County. A total of 31,108 people voted in favor of Issue 1 and 26,160 voted against it.

In Adams, Brown, Clinton and Highland counties — where the population is significantly smaller — an overwhelming majority of voters were in favor of the issue.

Here are the numbers:

Adams County:

• Yes — 4,004
• No — 1,513

Brown County:

• Yes — 6,539
• No — 2,810

Clinton County:

• Yes — 6,552
• No — 3,337

Highland County:

• Yes — 6,496
• No — 2,559

About Issue 1

Issue 1 — the only thing on the ballot — would have made three changes:

• Any proposed constitutional amendment would have required 60% of the vote to pass, rather than the 50%-plus-one votes currently required;
• Any petition for a constitutional amendment filed on or after January 1, 2024, would have needed signatures from 5% of the voters from the last gubernatorial election in each Ohio county, rather than the current requirement of signatures from half of the state's counties and;
• The 10-day period that allows invalid signatures to be replaced with new ones on citizen-led ballot initiatives for constitutional amendments would have been eliminated.

Voters have been able to make their decision since mid-July, with many Tri-State counties reporting higher turnout during early voting for this election than the entire voting cycle of the 2022 special election.

While the measure mentioned nothing about reproductive rights, abortion was at the center of the election as Ohioians are expected to consider a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion during the next November election.

The difference between 50%-plus-one and 60% of the vote could have been the difference between the measure passing or failing. Of the six abortion-rights ballot measures to have been held since Roe was struck down, four — those in Kentucky, Montana, Michigan, and Missouri — have passed with between 52-59% of the vote. Only Vermont and California's measures passed with more than 60%.

Because of its importance in the national debate over abortion, millions upon millions have been spent by both sides of the issue.