Dr. Kerri Milita was interviewed by The New York Times about an Ohio ballot measure that seeks to make it more difficult for residents to use direct democracy in the state. Ohio’s Issue 1 looks to raise the passage requirement for citizen-initiated proposals to 60% (rather than a simple plurality vote) and also makes it considerably more difficult to place measures on the ballot by raising the public signature threshold.
There is also a large strategic political component to the ballot measure. Issue 1 is intended to block the passage of an abortion rights amendment that is scheduled to appear on the November ballot in Ohio. Public opinion in the state is supportive overall to abortion rights, but the amendment is unlikely to pass a supermajority (60%-plus) threshold. The passage of Issue 1 is designed to ensure that pro-choice advocates are unsuccessful in their future attempts to codify abortion rights in the Ohio constitution through direct democracy.
Milita, an associate professor in the Department of Politics and Government, talked with The New York Times correspondent about her research that shows that the single largest predictor of when state legislatures will take action to cut off public access to direct democracy is when the ideology and policy preferences of the legislature differ substantially from overall public opinion in the state.
