ICYMI… ‘It’s time to fix that:’ Republican party head urges Ohioans to vote on constitution issue

Mansfield News Journal
6/7/2023

 

Alex Triantafilou, chair of the Ohio Republican Party, spoke Monday in Mansfield during a luncheon hosted by the Richland County Republican Party.

Voting in the Ohio’s special election on Aug. 8 is “a golden opportunity,” Alex Triantafilou, chair of the Ohio Republican Party, said in Mansfield on Monday during a luncheon hosted by the Richland County Republican Party.

“That’s 63 days from today,” Triantafilou said. “Issue One is a measure that will appear on every ballot in Ohio that will say we are changing the threshold to amend the state constitution.”

The resolution, a proposed amendment, would increase the voter threshold to 60% for amendments put forward by citizens and the Legislature, the Columbus Dispatch has reported. It requires citizen groups to get voter signatures from all 88 counties, instead of 44, to place something on the ballot. And it would eliminate a 10-day period that petitioners are granted to replace any invalid signatures.

‘It’s time to fix that’

Changing the state’s constitution is far too easy, Triantafilou, a lawyer by trade, told the room of Republicans in Mansfield.

“The federal constitution has been amended exactly 27 times,” Triantafilou said. “The first 10 were the Bill of Rights.”

Since then, he said, another 17 have added over the years. It’s been a far different process in The Buckeye State.

“Our state constitution has been amended over 150 times,” Triantafilou said. “Special interests come in, they buy up television ads and spend a ton of money to get on the ballot, and then they amend the constitution. It’s time to fix that.”

‘Get your ballot and get it filled out’

Republicans have, historically, waited until Election Day to head to the polls, but the state’s Republican chair said the red vote can and should get out much sooner this year.

“We want your help educating all of your friends and your family and everyone else you know to get a ballot early,” Triantafilou said. “Get your ballot and get it filled out.”

Voters might like to know, he said, that the Republican database recognizes when a voter has cast a ballot early, and that all calls and mailed flyers will cease once someone has voted.

“You’re saving the campaign money and resources by voting earlier,” he said. “We want your help educating all of your friends and your family and everyone else you know to get a ballot early.”

Voting early also ensures there are no interruptions to the voting process on Election Day.

“Do you guys know that Sept. 11, 2001, that awful day where we were attacked in New York? It was an election day,” Triantafilou said. Cincinnati had its first mayoral primary that day. “Now, we’re not going to have Sept. 11. That’s preposterous example, but it’s one very high-profile example of how things can happen on Election Day.”

Mansfield News Journal