A group that wants to put an Equal Rights Amendment on the ballot next year has filed petition signatures to put the process in motion. Ohio Equal Rights filed about 2,000 signatures, more than double the 1,000 valid signatures needed to advance the petition.
This amendment would not just apply to women as the traditional ERA proposals have. Lis Regula, a spokesperson with the Ohio Equal Rights Campaign, said this amendment would provide many protections to many people.
“It’s not only stating the usual protected classes of religion, race, sex, national origin, etc. It also includes age, familial status, pregnancy status, military or veteran status, addiction and recovery status, disease status, and disability status," Regula said.
Regula also said the amendment would repeal Ohio's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that was passed by voters back in 2004. It is unenforceable now under the current federal protections provided by U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision ten years ago. Regula said many are concerned that those federal protections could be weakened or repealed, since it was mentioned in the 2022 case that overturned the landmark decision legalizing abortion.
“Considering the fact that it was named in Dobbs, and considering what our recent rulings at the Supreme Court level have done, I think protecting ourselves and making sure our communities are safe and have our rights defined and explicitly stated wherever possible is a good thing," Regula said.
It's now up to Attorney General Dave Yost to certify the petition. Then it would go to the Ohio Ballot Board, which decides whether it should be one ballot issue or more. After that, signature collection can begin. It will take 442,958 valid signatures from half of Ohio's 88 counties to put the issue before voters.
