TOLEDO, Ohio — Ohio lawmakers have less than two weeks to decide whether or not to raise the voting threshold to change the Ohio constitution.
Earlier this year, republican lawmakers drafted House Joint Resolution 1 which would change the percentage needed to amend the constitution by a statewide ballot initiative to a supermajority of 60% from the current 50% plus one.
The Ohio Senate passed their version of the amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 2, this month.
This is all happening as pro-choice proponents work to get a reproductive rights amendment on the fall ballot that would increase access to abortion.
Greater Toledo's Right to Life Executive Director, Ed Sitter, said he supports the choice that could make it harder to pass amendments that could enshrine reproductive rights in the constitution.
"It's time that Ohioans raise the bar. Make it much more difficult to amend and change Ohio's constitution," said Sitter. "Just like it is in the national constitution. Just like it is for any significant major vote."
Sitter said regardless of reproductive rights he supports this amendment because it will strengthen Ohio's constitution as a whole.
"So many times, people try to enact what they shouldn't be doing to the legislature by constitutional amendment," said Sitter. "Because it was so easy to do that, we have a lot of amendments to Ohio's constitution."
Jen Miller of the League of Women Voters in Ohio said they're not taking a stance on the reproductive rights bill. However, Miller said they're strongly opposed to resolution 1.
Unlike Sitter, she said the amendment process is already difficult and doesn't happen that often to begin with.
"If this passes it's simply going to make it harder for citizen groups like the lead to pass ballot initiatives, but the deep-pocketed dark money groups will still be able to do so," said Miller.
It's not just amendments on reproductive rights but those like pensions for veterans, education, economic developments and conservation projects she said could also be harder to pass because of House Joint Resolution 1.
She said she and the coalition of over 200 organizations will do everything in their power to keep it off the ballot.
"We will defeat it, we will launch a robust vote no campaign because this is more than just a robust issue, this is democracy itself," said Miller.
Currently Florida and Illinois are the only other states that require a 60% supermajority to approve a constitutional amendment.
The state is still deciding whether or not to hold the August special election under Senate Bill 92 which House Joint Resolution would be a part of.