Former governor against Issue 1

A former Ohio governor strongly opposed the sole measure on a special election ballot next month during an interview with Ogden Ohio Newspapers Wednesday. Dick Celeste, who served as an Ohio governor from 1982 until 1990, said Issue 1 was hypocritical and created the most extreme requirements to get citizen-led ballot initiatives on election ballots. "It's wrong, it's fundamentally wrong," Celeste said. Celeste appeared on a segment of the Sandusky Register's "Between the Lines" program in the Sandusky studio Wednesday to oppose the issue and encourage "no" votes as the election approaches. People can watch the video on the Sandusky Register's YouTube channel. Issue 1 would amend the state constitution to require signatures from all 88 counties to approve initiatives for ballots, doubling the current requirements. The measure will appear on the Aug. 8 special election, the only measure being decided, just months after Republican lawmakers voted to ban August elections due to high costs and low voter turnout. If passed, Issue 1 would take effect immediately and a constitutional amendment, just approved for the Nov. 7 ballot, would need to pass by at least 60% to codify reproductive health care in the Ohio Constitution. He said the issue was hypocritical and if passing a supermajority was important, lawmakers would say Issue 1 needed to pass by the same 60% they're requiring for future amendments. Celeste is joined by four other former governors and five former attorneys general who oppose efforts made by Republican lawmakers in the Ohio Statehouse pushing to make the constitution harder to amend. "Your vote is precious. If you vote yes, you'll be diminishing your vote. This amendment will make it virtually impossible to make any civic issue on the ballot," Celeste said. "Getting sufficient signatures in 88 counties and not having a chance to fix that would by far be the hardest in the country. Our voices should be heard very loudly. Go out and vote."