COLUMBUS — Despite record spending in November on a ballot fight over gerrymandering that ultimately came up empty, Ohio citizens still hope to use their constitution to do what their lawmakers won't do or overturn what they have done.

Proposed constitutional amendments in varying stages of gathering signatures of registered voters would create a voters’ bill of rights, allow government employees to be sued if they violate others’ rights, and raise the minimum wage.

Democracy goes on with the outcome never assured, regardless of how many millions are poured into campaigns and the number of signatures submitted to the secretary of state.

The process has been used in the past for everything from legalizing casino gambling to, most recently, assuring reproductive rights.

Supporters of these latest proposals would have to gather just over 413,000 valid signatures of registered voters by July 2 if they want to appear on the off-year Nov. 4 general election ballot. They could file after that date if they shoot for a later election.

There is no guarantee that any proposed constitutional amendment or initiated statute, the ultimate result in the latter being a state law subject to legislative change, will qualify for the ballot, let alone pass. It’s an expensive and time-consuming process just to gather the signatures.

The General Assembly’s Republican majority is not a fan of any of these proposals. It failed in 2023 to convince voters to raise the vote threshold for proposed constitutional amendments to pass, but it has since found other ways to throw up procedural roadblocks.

Attorney General Dave Yost temporarily blocked the path of the voting rights and qualified immunity proposals by, among other things, rejecting the proposed title of the petition summary language submitted for his review.

Those proposals reached the signature-gathering phase only because the Ohio Supreme Court held the General Assembly had never given him that authority. Lawmakers recently responded by sending Gov. Mike DeWine House Bill 74 which, among other things, would expressly grant him that power.

One factor cited in November's defeat of Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians redistricting reform proposal, was GOP-written ballot summary language that greeted voters at the polls in the absence of the lengthy actual text of the amendment. It defined a proposal written to ban gerrymandering as a plan to mandate gerrymandering.

Voting rights

It took litigation to get to this stage, but petition circulators are in the field gathering signatures to pursue an Ohio Voters Bill of Rights.

Voters would be asked to lock in some existing voting rights that can and have been subject to changes in state law and secretary of state directive, expand on others, and then block government from acting to curtail those rights.

Among its many provisions, it seeks to expand the menu of acceptable photo identification options, allow voters to register and vote on the same day, extend the time for returning absentee ballots, and expand the number and placement of absentee ballot drop box locations, the number of days for in-person early voting, and the number of early-voting locations.

“It really is a number of provisions, all of which relate to the common purpose of facilitating and securing the right to vote and making sure that the process is fair, open, and accessible to all Ohio voters,” Jyoti Jasrasaria, attorney for Ohioans for Fair and Secure Elections, told the Ohio Ballot Board last month.

The coalition includes several civil rights and labor organizations — the NAACP, the Ohio Unity Coalition, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative.

Ending qualified immunity

Like the voting rights issue, the would-be Protecting Ohioans’ Constitutional Rights amendment took a circuitous path through the courts before getting the all-clear to hit the streets for signatures.

It took years to reach this point.

The proposed amendment would allow Ohioans to sue governmental employees and potentially private contractors working on behalf of government if they feel their state constitutional rights have been violated.

The state, cities, and other governmental employers could also be sued for unlimited compensatory and noneconomic damages for the actions of their employees.

“This is not about police officers. This is about government officials,” Mark Brown, attorney for petitioners, told the ballot board.

“We have a huge problem in the public schools with sexual abuse ...,” he said. “Unfortunately, even though those teachers may go to jail, they are not held financially accountable under [state law]. Not all the time. They get qualified immunity.”

Minimum wage/tips

This One Fair Wage proposal may be on the shakiest ground of the three.

The minimum hourly wage will reach $10.70 — $5.35 for tipped workers — under current terms of the constitution.

This proposed amendment would take that to $15 as of Jan. 1, 2026, and then increase it annually for inflation. For the first time, the minimum wage for restaurant servers, bartenders, and other tipped workers would increase at a greater pace until it matches that of other workers by Jan. 1, 2029.

The signature campaign, however, has been plagued by problems.

Backers initially shot for last month's election. But it opted at the last minute not to file by the July deadline when it determined it would fall short of a secondary signature requirement needed in 44 of the state's 88 counties.

Backers then said they’d file in September with 2025 in mind, but that didn't happen either.

Signatures already gathered do not expire. But with passing time, there's a risk that some could be ruled invalid as the signers change addresses, leave the state, change their names on their registration, or die.

There are also legal questions. The petition summary language as approved by Mr. Yost nearly three years ago assumed a 2024 vote with specific dates for implementation of the gradual wage increases.

The initial 2025 date will have already passed before voters even get a chance to vote on the proposal.

If it does reach the ballot, it will face major opposition from the state’s business community.

First Published December 30, 2024, 12:00 p.m.