Ohio has a very important election today in which there will be some propositions put to a vote regarding some social justice causes as well as rights of Ohioans. The ballot is set to include a vote to determine if the state will legalize recreational marijuana use, as well as the legality of abortions in the state.
If Ohio were to legalize marijuana use, they will be the 24th United States state to do so.
Pre-polls have shown that people in support of the bill are in the majority, with about 60% of the Ohio voters that participated in the poll supporting the bill. If this bill passes, it will overcome the previous attempt in which 10 years ago there was another measure on an Ohio ballot to legalize marijuana. This attempt was unsuccessful and did not pass.
There is a leading campaigning group in support of passing the legalization, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol. The spokesperson, Tom Haren, has released a statement in which they are clearly trying not to jump the gun and get too excited. He said, “the only poll that matters is next Tuesday,” referring to what is now today’s election.
In addition to being the potential 24th state to legalize, Ohio would also join the list of more conservative states that have legalized recreational, adult-use of marijuana. States like Montana and Missouri, which are red states, have legalized in recent years.
The second important bill Ohioans have to vote on has to do with abortions in the state.
This ballot currently holds Issue 1, a bill that will protect abortion rights for Ohio residents, by implementing permanence to the state constitution. If this bill is not passed, the state will resume operations under a six-week abortion ban. This means that if someone is seeking an abortion, they can only do so within the first six weeks of pregnancy. This is a strategy many states implement as it is essentially an entire abortion ban as nearly no childbearing person is aware they are pregnant within the first six weeks of pregnancy.
The state did previously operate under the six-week ban for three months. When the United States Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling, Ohio immediately implemented the six-week ban. Three months later the state court was able to overturn this action, but now the stake of abortions is up to the state’s people.
