COLUMBUS, Ohio — Boards of Elections throughout Ohio are preparing for a special election in August, after lawmakers approved a resolution Wednesday night despite protests. That vote now leaves the decision up to Ohioans on whether to make it more difficult to change Ohio’s constitution.
Counties now have less than three months to prepare for the election on August 8.
Aaron Sellers, public information officer for the Franklin County Board of Elections, said they’ve had August elections in seven of the last eight years.
"There's just a lot of things that have to be done,” Sellers said.
Sellers said its crunch time now to start preparing for the election, which includes recruiting more than 4,000 poll workers and reaching out to more than 300 polling locations.
"Some locations we just know that simply won't be available because they'll have other things going on those days,” Sellers said.
Lawmakers passed a joint resolution Wednesday night which now leaves it to voters to decide if a 60% supermajority should be required to make changes to the state’s constitution. The law currently states a 50% plus one vote threshold is needed to amend the constitution.
"I think the biggest thing I took away from yesterday was frustration and disappointment,” Rep. Anita Somani (D-Dublin) said.
Rep. Somani said the resolution takes away the power of the people, but she’s hopeful for a different turnout in August.
"The number of people that were against this bill far exceeded the number of people that were for the bill,” Rep. Somani said.
Supporters of the resolution like Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said the resolution protects the constitution from special interest groups. He added that this proposal is not unique to Ohio.
"Florida requires a 60% vote threshold for constitutional amendments, Colorado requires 55%, live free or die New Hampshire requires 66%,” Rep. Stewart said.
Wednesday night’s controversy over this decision by lawmakers now leaves many wondering if this will result in a larger than normal turnout for an August election.
"I think this is an issue that will bring more voters to the polls than normally turn out in an August election,” Paul Beck, political science professor for Ohio State University, said.
Beck added that its harder to encourage voters on college campuses in August because classes aren’t in session yet, and many people also take vacations during that time.
"We were in a managers meeting here today this morning here in Franklin County, talking about those types of things and throwing around turnout and what we think and most people think it will certainly be higher than what you've seen in the past,” Sellers said.
This added election, also comes with a cost.
"Last year in the August primary, we had less than 10% turnout and it cost taxpayers $20 million-plus to fund that election,” Rep. Somani said.
Sellers added it cost taxpayers in Franklin County less than $2 million for last year’s August election.
"Most of that is paying poll workers for the day of work, the training, the stipend for training,” Sellers said.
Sellers said the last day to register to vote ahead of the August election is July 10. Early voting will begin on July 11.