UPDATE: Action Sheet for Ohio

An Easy-to-Share Summary of What's Happening, and What You Can Do

Yesterday I shared a detailed narrative about the outrageous GOP attempt to leverage the Ohio/Biden Ballot issue to damage both democracy and freedom in Ohio. And why Ohio’s far right is celebrating the plan.

What follows is a bullet-point summary of what’s happening as well as action steps we all can take in the coming days.

My goal is that this document is one that you can SHARE widely with your networks, sparking wide and collective ACTION.

Please distribute as widely as possible:

Why the Ohio Senate Republicans' "Biden Ballot Fix" is Unacceptable

THE PROBLEM:

• In past elections, when a presidential nominating convention of either party took place after the official deadline to appear on the Ohio ballot, extending that deadline for either party’s candidate was a step taken routinely, with no fanfare, and no strings attached (in Ohio, and nationally).

• Just weeks ago, for example, Alabama Republicans passed a “clean” bill (no strings attached) to put Biden on their ballot. Ohio has always done the same for candidates of both major parties.

• But this year, some Republican politicians in Ohio are refusing to put Biden on Ohio’s ballot “without getting something in return.”

• Specifically, Ohio Senate Republicans are taking advantage of the moment to achieve a prime goal of their’s (both in Ohio, and nationally): undermining ballot initiative campaigns, which provide a check on their gerrymandered power, and which Ohioans have been using to pass popular laws like abortion rights and recreational marijuana:

  • KEY TARGET — Saving Their Gerrymandering: What they are trying to ram through right now takes direct aim at the citizen-led effort to END gerrymandering this year(!). (#citizensnotpoliticians). That’s why the bills have “emergency clauses” in them—so they take effect immediately. Stopping this anti-gerrymandering initiative is their top priority, because they know the end of gerrymandering would end the extremists’ grip on power.

  • Republicans’ claim that this is about removing foreign money from Ohio campaigns is a lie, plain and simple. As part of their broader efforts to fight the deep corruption in Ohio (through an act called the Ohio Anti-Corruption Act), it’s Democrats who have tried to eliminate foreign money from Ohio elections for six years. The GOP majority has only allowed one hearing all that time, and has not let any of these anti-corruption measures move forward, including the ban on foreign money.

  • Instead, the GOP measures being tied to the Biden/ballot “fix” are targeting only ballot initiative campaigns. And what they propose would dramatically complicate and undermine the viability of ballot initiative campaigns overall, while doing nothing about the “dark money" and pay-to-play culture that keeps them in power and has made Ohio the most corrupt state in America.

  • This is nothing but a continuation of their effort to undermine ballot initiatives through last year’s infamous Issue 1—which is why Issue 1’s backers are so excited about what is happening. They can’t hide their glee:

This is the author of last year’s Issue 1, going after ballot initiatives yet again…

• Republicans are also tying the Biden ballot “fix” to another poison pill: they want to amend the review process in Ohio courts so that injunctions halting their laws (such as laws that violate Ohio’s new Reproductive Freedom Amendment) are fast-tracked out of non-partisan courts and up to the partisan Ohio Supreme Court as quickly as possible. Given the makeup of the court, I have no doubt this will directly undermine the new right to reproductive freedom we voted into Ohio’s Constitution last November. Here’s an explanation of this one.

• Finally, and more broadly, demanding concessions to place a presidential candidate on the ballot sets a horrible precedent. This will take Ohio down a dark road for the future. It will only get worse with time, and potentially beyond Ohio.

WHAT’S HAPPENED UP UNTIL NOW:

• Ohio House Republicans, working with Ohio House Democrats, agreed to pass a “clean” bill (no strings attached) putting Biden on Ohio’s ballot. That is consistent with past practice, and other states.

• Ohio Senate Republicans added poison pills like SB 215 to their "Biden ballot fix.” Then they snuck it all into HB 114, which had previously been a bipartisan bill to support parents running for office. This week they also added HB 305, which fast tracks the appeals process for injunctions, as mentioned above.

• Late last week, DeWine called the legislature back into Session and demanded that they put Biden on Ohio’s ballot. It sounded great for a brief moment. But…

  • DeWine did not supporting the “clean” bill in the House, which is supported by both Republicans and Democrats

  • Instead, DeWine purposefully asked legislators to pass the Senate version, which includes the poison pills above. He even listed the specific bills in the proclamation he issued:

    

  • The special session is now scheduled for Tuesday. They are trying to rush this all through before people figure out what’s happening.

SPECIFICS: THE POISON PILL FOR DIRECT DEMOCRACY

SB 215:

• SB 215 is the main poison pill that Ohio Senate Republicans added to their “Biden ballot fix.”

  • Bill breakdown: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/download?key=22197&format=pdf  

• Just as the national right wing is working hard to undermine citizen-led ballot initiatives generally (which Ohio saw last year in the August Issue 1), Senate Republicans are desperate to pass SB 215, beginning their work early in the new year:

  • Bitter about their losses last year, this bill was first introduced 1/23/2024 and moved rapidly through the Senate. 

  • It passed the Senate on 2/28/2024.

  • Senate Republicans have attempted to include it as an amendment to multiple other bills as well.

• The language has changed over time, and could still change in the coming days, but overall, it’s clear that SB 215 is intended to knee-cap grassroots ballot initiative campaigns.

• If the bill sponsors were actually concerned about foreign money in elections, the bill would focus on more than just ballot campaigns, as the Democratic bills have done.

  • Plus, the “ban” in the current Senate bill doesn’t ban anything that isn’t already banned by federal law. The entire point is to give them a “talking point” to disguise what this is really all about, and to attack the effort to end gerrymandering this issue.

• What SB 215 actually does do is sweep broadly, declaring that any ballot initiative campaign committee or referendum campaign committee that receives a contribution or makes an expenditure is considered a PAC. Depending on the final language, or how it’s interpreted:

  • this could decrease contribution limits. Even small, low-dollar organizations that have donated to the Citizens Not Politicians campaign would already be over the contribution limit for a PAC.

  • smaller, grassroots organizations that have been key allies in successful initiative coalitions could get in trouble because they won't even know they need to file reports;

  • needless to say, drying up funds for and participation in these campaigns overall would amount to a huge victory in the overall effort to stop the very campaigns that are holding them accountable or overriding their extreme laws (like the six-week abortion ban).

• SB 215 also sets up new enforcement mechanisms and powers that provide an easy trigger for partisan players (in office or outside groups) to endlessly harass and investigate the organizations that have successfully run and supported ballot campaigns, including unions:

  • It provides an incentive for bad actors to file complaints triggering such investigations.

  • Ohio GOP officials, as recently as last year, showed they are willing to use/abuse powers (including manipulating the ballot language itself, releasing “legal” opinions in the middle of elections, demanding a special election to change the rules of an ongoing ballot campaign, etc.) to defeat issues they disagree with. They have also shown a willingness to use investigatory powers to serve their political and communications goals. SB 215 would give them more opportunity and power to do so in the middle of elections.

  • Giving themselves more enforcement power over groups involved in ballot campaigns they oppose will again dissuade groups from participating in these campaigns in the first place. And that is their goal.

• Bottom Line: Ohio’s Republican politicians are desperate to pass SB 215 because they know it would make it harder for Ohio citizens to pass laws by ballot initiative. And specifically, because it would add obstacles to this year’s effort to end gerrymandering via ballot initiative—the greatest threat to their power.

• In many ways, this is all the 2024 version of last year’s Issue 1—an attempt to interfere with an ongoing ballot initiative they oppose.

The Message:

“Ohioans demand a clean bill to get Biden on our ballot. Not another sneak attack on our democracy and reproductive freedom.”

“There should be no strings attached to Ohio participating in the nation’s presidential election. And there should be no poison pills to democracy or freedom.”

If they bring up the red herring of foreign money in elections: “You should support the Ohio Anti-Corruption Act, which Democrats have been trying to pass for years, and which actually takes on the issue of foreign money in a sincere and comprehensive way.”

Actions To Take:

STEP 1: Tell Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens—who has thus far worked with Democrats for a clean bill—to hold the line. Ohioans will ONLY accept a clean bill to get Biden on the ballot—no poison pills, no tradeoffs:

• Tel: 614-466-1366

• Email: rep93@ohiohouse.gov

• Twitter: https://x.com/jasoncstephens 

STEP 2: Tell your State Representative that Ohioans will ONLY accept a clean bill to get Biden on the ballot. They should vote NO on any bill that contains poison pills. Ohio’s democracy is not some pawn to be horse-traded.

Find your rep: https://ohiohouse.gov/ → “Who Represents Me?”

STEP 3: Tell Governor DeWine (and his top staff) to publicly apologize for supporting the Senate's poison pill bill. Tell him you agree with his call for a solution, but to do it through only a clean bill. Trading away our democracy is not an acceptable approach.

• DeWine office contact sheet HERE.

STEP 4: Spread the word. Be sure you tell folks in all parts of Ohio to make these calls and emails.

STEP 5: Stay tuned! If there are hearings next week that make sense to go to, I will include that information in a future update.