CINCINNATI — Hamilton County's Young Democrats rallied outside of the Hamilton County Board of Elections early voting center Sunday as people wrapped around the building waiting to cast their ballot on the final day of early voting in the August election.
The only issue on the ballot is Issue 1, which, if passed, would raise the amount of votes needed to amend Ohio's constitution from 50% to 60% and require signatures to get an initiative on the ballot from all 88 Ohio counties instead of 44.
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At Sunday's rally, Democratic state representative Rachel Baker said Republican lawmakers had pushed Issue 1 into an August election to prevent Ohio voters from overruling them if something they pass is unpopular statewide.
"I believe in one person one vote," Baker said, "and this is really a push to take power away from every day people."
Former state Democratic Party Chair David Pepper agreed.
"This is an attack on the power of the people of Ohio," Pepper said.
"How often in life when someone asks you to give away your power do you agree with that?" he asked.
Current Republican Party Chair Alex Triantafilou argued Issue 1 was necessary to make the state's founding document more rigid.
"We've seen our constitution amended 160 or 170 times," he said.
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Triantafilou said a "yes" vote on Issue 1 protects the state from legislation through constitutional change.
He argued that, if voters wanted to make or change law, they should vote for representatives in the legislature to craft law for them in the state house instead of changing the state's bedrock document.
"We're going to urge everyone to vote yes for what is basically a good government measure," he said. "If we're going to change our state's foundational document, our state constitution, it ought to be a wide swath of Ohioans who support it."
Polls closed to early voting at 4:00 p.m.
Polls will reopen on election day, Tuesday, August 8, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with voters casting ballots at their assigned polling locations.
If you need to find your polling place, click here.
A 50% "yes" vote would enshrine Issue 1 into the state constitution.
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