The August 8 special election will contain one issue, a proposed constitutional amendment. The ballot will read as follows, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections:

“Issue 1
Proposed Constitutional Amendment

ELEVATING THE STANDARDS TO QUALIFY FOR AN INITIATED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND TO PASS A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Proposed by Joint Resolution of the General Assembly

To amend Sections 1b, 1e and 1g of Article II and Sections 1 and 3 of Article XVI of the Constitution of the State of Ohio

A majority yes vote is necessary for the amendment to pass.

The proposed amendment would:

• Require that any proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of Ohio receive the approval of at least 60 percent of eligible voters voting on the proposed amendment.

• Require that any initiative petition filed on or after January 1, 2024 with the Secretary of State proposing to amend the Constitution of the State of Ohio be signed by at least five percent of the electors of each county based on the total vote in the county for governor in the last preceding election.

• Specify that additional signatures may not be added to an initiative petition proposing to amend the Constitution of the State of Ohio that is filed with the Secretary of State on or after January 1, 2024 proposing to amend the Constitution of the State of Ohio.

If passed, the amendment will be effective immediately.”

Voting In person: Voters must present a government-issued photo identification, such as an Ohio driver’s license, state ID card, an interim ID from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a U.S. passport or passport card, a military ID, national guard ID or veteran’s affairs card. All forms of identification must not be expired.

Provisional Voting: If you show up to vote, but do not have one of these types of government-issued forms of identification, you will be required to vote with a provisional ballot and will have four days after the election to bring the government-issued identification to the Board of Elections to receive credit for voting.

According to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, the following is the timeline for the August 8 election:

07/11/2023 – Opening of Early In-Person and Vote-by-Mail (Absentee) voting
08/01/2023 – 8:30 pm deadline for applications by mail for a Vote-by-Mail / Absentee ballot to be mailed
08/06/2023 – Voting in-person at the Board of Elections ends at 5:00 p.m.
08/07/2023 – All Vote-by-Mail / Absentee ballots mailed anywhere in the U.S. must be postmarked on or before this date and received at the Board of Elections on or before 8/12/2023 in order to be counted.
08/08/2023 – 6:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. – Election Day – Provisional voting at the Board of Elections
08/08/2023 – All Vote-by-Mail / Absentee ballots returned in person must be received at the Board of Elections by 7:30 p.m. in order to be counted.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer