Rep. Robinson: Extremist Politicians Seek to Silence the Voice of the People with Passage of Undemocratic SJR 2

COLUMBUS— State Rep. Phil Robinson (D-Solon) today denounces the passage of Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 by the Ohio House of Representatives. House Democrats stood with the people and unanimously voted against the undemocratic, unfair, and unpopular resolution that will shred Ohio’s Constitution.

“This undemocratic legislation is a clear power grab, plain and simple. The claims my Republican colleagues are making as to why they voted for this unconstitutional resolution are either disingenuous or delusional. They aren’t putting the people and their rights first; instead they are putting the greedy and extremist special interests first,” said Rep. Robinson. “A democratic republic is one person-one vote and rule of the majority. It should only require a simple majority for Ohioans to change their state constitution at the ballot box. SJR 2 does not put people first so they can correct the failures of our gerrymandered legislature that doesn’t always represent what the majority of Ohioans want and believe.”

The Ohio Senate also concurred with HJR 2, in a 26-7 on a party-line vote. The resolution now heads to an August special election, only giving local county Boards of Elections only three months to prepare for and to inform Ohioans to vote on the issue.

If passed, Ohioans would lose their freedom to determine the future of the state as 40% of voters could block initiatives the majority of people want. The resolution also makes gathering signatures for constitutional amendment ballot initiatives more difficult for petitioners and eliminates the 10 day grace period to gather more signatures if their petition is found to have insufficient signatures. 

“After supporting ending August special elections last year, SJR 2 supporters decide to make a special exception to rush another special election to the ballot this summer. This $20 million boondoggle will lead to low turnout. Furthermore, it takes place right before the next November general election where there could be a statewide ballot issue vote on women’s reproductive and abortion rights. Also, they know there could be future ballot issues to increase the minimum wage and create stronger redistricting reform to end gerrymandering in Ohio,” added Rep. Robinson. “These are the types of issues where Republicans and their special interest donors and supporters know the majority of Ohioans disagree with them. If the people get a direct say through the ballot box, they would lose; so they need to usurp majority rule to maintain power and control.”

SJR 2 was the companion legislation to House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1, which held the same provisions.

As reported by Sec. of State Frank LaRose in his proponent testimony for House Bill (HB) 458 of the 134th General Assembly last year, where he came out against August special elections and stated that August special elections have chronically low turnout elections when voters aren't expecting an election to occur compared to November general elections. The data examples he presented included:

• August 2022 special elections – 8% turnout
• November 2022 general election – over 51% turnout
• August 2020 Hamilton County special election – 11.8% turnout
• August 2020 Cuyahoga County special election – 6.8% turnout
• November 2020 general election – 74% turnout

“The hypocrisy doesn’t end with the August special election. SJR2 and HJR 1 supporters claim they are protecting the state constitution from out-of-state special interests, but meanwhile conservative mega-donor and out-of-state billionaire Richard Uihlein gave $1.1 million to a dark-money super PAC that promoted HJR 1 and SJR 2. It’s pretty clear to see where the special interests stand,” said Rep. Robinson.

The constitutional restriction would destroy more than 111 years of direct democracy that Ohioans have used to achieve their goals when unresponsive politicians would not listen. The resolution’s supermajority vote requirement for future constitutional amendments would tilt the scales of democracy away from voters and toward well-funded, out-of-state, dark-money special interests.

“SJR 2 will only need a simple majority to pass at the ballot, but all future ballot issues to do the same will need a 60% supermajority to pass. The hypocrisy is evident,” added Rep. Robinson. “I can only hope we defeat the measure in August. We need to put Ohioans’ freedom, opportunity, dignity, and justice for the people first. I will continue to do this while defending democracy so the people have a voice in our republic.”