This issue was defeated by 57% to 43%, amid unusually high voter turnout for an off-year election held in August, with over 3 million ballots cast overall.

The allowance of voter-led initiatives was written into the constitution by the Initiative and Referendum Process Amendment of 1912,[3] and since then, the official system for proposing additional amendments in this way was as follows: On March 22, 2023,[5] a Senate Joint Resolution was brought forward by Senators Rob McColley and Theresa Gavarone to hold a special election on August 8th of that year for changing these requirements.

[10] This apparent contradiction was immediately pounced upon by opponents, whom quickly filed suit in the Ohio Supreme Court to stop the election.

[12] Most outside views on the controversy generally disagreed with LaRose's arguments, but regardless, the Court ruled 4-3 that the request would be denied, and the election would go on as scheduled.

Pro-abortion advocates and organizations launched several lawsuits almost immediately to take down the law, and were eventually successful in gaining an injunction in September of that year.

He also claimed two other proposals to come, including raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour (a petiton for such was being attempted at the time),[23] and an unspecified reduction of 2nd Amendment rights (likely referencing states expanding red flag laws, among other similar anti-gun changes).

The same ad also mentioned the URGE group, tying their support of removing parental consent for minor abortions to the issue.

[24] An anti-Issue 1 ad claimed that Republicans would soon ban all forms of birth control if it was to pass, although no such effort had been pushed within the state.

[25][26] A debate held by NBC4 Columbus regarding Issue 1 also made mentions of an ad regarding gender-affirmation surgeries on minors, along with reiterating the claims regarding gun control.

The Ohio General Assembly is one of the most gerrymandered legislatures in the United States, biased heavily towards the Republican Party.

[31] As mentioned earlier, Ohioans themselves are split roughly 55–45 in favor of Republican support, however, the General Assembly, both House and Senate, are much more slanted.

[citation needed] With this initiative quickly gaining national prominence as well as state, money began to pour in from all over, a large sum of which did in fact come from out-of-state donors.

They claimed that the language was misleading for four reasons: the title implying that any form of constitutional amendment was subject to signature requirements, incomplete communication regarding the 5% county signatures requirement, the ballot not having information on what current law stated, and the word 'elevate' in the title having a positive connotation that would sway voters toward the 'Yes' side.

[42] This Issue was the fourth in the past five years attempting to put in supermajority requirements for passing amendments, all in Republican-led states.

Representatives Former statewide officials State Senators State House members Local officials Individuals Organizations Labor unions Newspapers Voter turnout was unusually high, particularly for an August ballot, with approximately 39% of registered voters casting votes on the issue.

[115] Excluding outstanding absentee by mail and provisional ballots, the Dispatch reported late on August 8 with more than 99% of the votes counted that the referendum failed by a margin of more than 14%.

[116] Decision Desk HQ, an election results reporting agency, called the race around 8:09 p.m. EDT, while The Associated Press projected that Issue 1 had failed around 9 p.m.