Effort underway to stop GOP-led Ohio constitution amendment changes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – At the Ohio Statehouse, there is a growing citizen movement against a Republican-backed plan to make it more difficult for voters to amend the Ohio constitution.

One of the leaders of that movement is a former state lawmaker and a 40-year journalist with the Columbus Dispatch, former government reporter, editor, and publisher Mike Curtin.

Curtin said at least 140 organizations, for the Council of Churches to labor unions and civic groups, are opposing the so-called Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, which would require 60 percent of voters to approve an initiative to amend the constitution instead of the current 50 percent.

“So this is an incredible abuse of power, it’s historic,” Curtin said. “It’s never happened before, where the majority party is going to jam something through in lame duck, get the votes, rush it to the May ballot in an odd-numbered year, when people have had very little time to study this, to digest it, and to challenge it. And it is bad faith, and that’s why I’m so motivated to work as long and as hard as I can against this bad faith proposal.”

Curtin said the Republican-backed bill is an effort to make sure citizen initiatives, like abortion and anti-gerrymandering measures, will have more trouble winning voter approval.

Hear more from Curtin and the effort to halt the amendment plan this Sunday on The Spectrum with Colleen Marshall, airing at 10 a.m.