Dear Editor:

I am urging county voters to vote “yes” on Issue One in the upcoming special election of August 8th (early voting beginning July 11th) if only to protect Ohio’s state constitution from out of state special interests like that of leftist billionaire George Soros.

By voting “yes” in Issue One, all 88 Ohio counties will have to participate in petition signature submittals for constitutional ballot amendments. This ensures that not just the big urban areas of the state impose such ballot amendments upon us without all of Ohio’s 88 counties knowing about it and approving it.

By voting “yes” on Issue One, constitutional ballot amendments will require a super majority of 60% for ballot passage, just as it does in conservative Florida and liberal Illinois. This ensures that only a strong majority of the state’s voters approve of what are often very controversial public policy issues.

Finally, by voting “yes” on Issue One, well funded, out of state interests (who most always pay signature gatherers) must submit the required number of signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot within a prescribed time frame established by law. They will not get to re-submit additional names after the deadline has passed as they can presently.

Without these safeguards in place, left wing radicals such as George Soros are planning a full scale assault on Ohio. They intend to thwart the will of Ohio voters by proposing a whole Pandora’s Box of ballot initiatives such as: legalized recreational marijuana to add to our already out of control drug addiction (and crime) problems; propose “big city” based voter redistricting that flips, by decree, the state from Red to Blue; propose an increase in the state’s minimum wage to $20/hour which would kill restaurants and the small to midsize businesses that employ most of Ohio. This is just some of what they are planning for Ohio.

Make no mistake about it, what the “Left” cannot get through honest elections in Ohio, they want now to “hijack” by means of multi-million dollar ballot initiative campaigns which will wreak havoc with this state, turning it into another California or New York of the Midwest. And, by locking down their agenda into our state constitution, we could never reverse the damage that will be done.

Vote YES on Issue One.

David W. Johnson

Chairman

Columbiana County Republican Party