Welcome, and thank you for your attention.
I will be brief.
I write today on behalf of my shriveled ovaries, who, despite the fact that their work here on Earth is done, are compelled to speak out — especially but not ONLY — on behalf of current and future fertile women and those who love them.
Together, my ovaries and I want to urge every Ohio citizen to put two actions at the tippy top of their summer to-do list:
1. Get a big red Sharpie today and mark "VOTE NO" on your calendar for August 8. Do this on every calendar you use. Even your Outlook calendar at work. With a Sharpie.
2. On August 8, actually go to the polls and VOTE NO ON ISSUE 1.
Do it. Find your polling place and vote. Even though this is not a presidential election. Even though it's summer, and what you need is more R&R, not another obligation.
Even though you are entertaining visitors from out of state.
Or have a job interview.
Or your allergies are killing you.
Even from their privileged position of retirement, my ovaries understand that you live a complicated life that includes many challenges and that you do not need one more task, thank you very much. Plus, a person can wake up on Election Day and feel suddenly repelled by bad weather and ennui.
Will one vote really matter? This election, the answer is YES. It will.
Definitely.
Especially.
Urgently.
Indubitably.
Issue 1 is not just another school levy or council race. It's almost impossible to overstate its importance to your democratic rights — even if you are an Independent! Or a Republican!
It matters a lot, regardless of whether your ovaries are dried up and done for like mine; ripe and dreaming of making future humans; have been surgically removed; or are, in fact, actually testicles.
Issue 1 is a proposal by Ohio Republican lawmakers to MAKE IT HARDER FOR VOTERS to change the state constitution. And they want to do this because in November, voters will again be asked to go to the polls, this time to decide whether to amend the state constitution to protect abortion rights. (Spoiler: State legislators, of whom only 30 percent are female, want to outlaw abortion in Ohio.)
But even if you don't want to ban abortion in Ohio, you should vote NO ON ISSUE 1 ON AUGUST 8, and here's why.
Issue 1 would do three things:
It requires that proposed amendments to the constitution earn 60% of the votes instead of the current 50% plus one vote. (That is likely the difference between the amendment passing or failing.)
It requires that in order to place a referendum on the ballot, signatures be gathered from 5% of the eligible voters in all 88 counties rather than just from 44 counties, as it is now.
It prevents additional signatures from being added to an amendment petition after it has been filed with the Secretary of State. In other words, if the state rejects and disqualifies some of the petition signatures, proponents can't go gather more to cover the gap.
To be honest, my ovaries are VERY angry about this. I've never seen them so mad.
All of these measures leech away power from you as an individual voter and hand it back to state lawmakers, who might or might not actually represent your interests.
Many systems are currently in place in our country that contradict the one-person/one-vote ideal, including the godforsaken Electoral College, although my ovaries begged me not to mention that.
Never mind then.
The point is that a ballot initiative to amend the constitution is one of the rare times that your one vote gets fully counted. Issue 1, if passed, would radically change that.
So, sure: This year, the amendment in question might be abortion, to which you may be personally opposed. But next year, an amendment proposal might be on an issue you deeply care about and want to see put to a vote. But by that time, if Issue 1 has been passed, you'll have given power back to the politicians and you won't get it back.
What my shriveled ovaries really want you to know is that a NO ON ISSUE 1 vote on Aug. 8 is essential regardless of whether you are a person who might ever need an abortion. Issue 1 isn't about abortion. It's about your right as an Ohioan to demand that your vote be counted regardless of which party is in power in the state legislature.
If this plea has been persuasive, there is one more item to consider for your summer to-do list: Spread the word. Talk especially to friends and family members who don't vote, or only vote for president. Explain why this election is different, because they're not voting for a politician or a tax or a policy. They are voting for themselves.
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Karen