Ohio State Legislative Term Limits Initiative (2020)
| Ohio State Legislative Term Limits Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Term limits and State legislatures measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Ohio State Legislative Term Limits Initiative was not on the ballot in Ohio as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.[1]
The initiative would have amended Article II, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution to make the following changes:[2]
- Limit the number of years a state legislator serves in either of the two chambers of the Ohio General Assembly to 16 years beginning January 1, 2021;
- Remove the provision that restricts state legislators from holding office for more than eight years only after a four year period out of office; and
- Remove language that determines how a partial term is factored into the above provision that restricts the time in office to eight years.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The title for this measure submitted by petitioners was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Lifetime General Assembly Term Limits Amendment[3] |
” |
Ballot summary
The summary for this measure submitted by petitioners was as follows:[2]
| “ |
This amendment would amend existing Article II, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution, to prohibit any person from taking or holding the office of State Senator or of State Representative pursuant to election or appointment if as of the date that person takes office pursuant to that election or appointment the number of years in the term or unexpired term to which that person is elected or appointed, when added to the years that person has served in the general assembly as either State Senator or as State Representative or in any combination of these two offices would exceed sixteen years. Only years of service beginning on or after January l, 2021 would be considered in determining an individual 's eligibility to take or hold office. The amendment would repeal existing language prohibiting persons from holding the office of State Senator for a period longer than two successive terms of four years unless the terms as State Senator are separated by a period of four or more years, and prohibiting persons from holding the office of State Representative for a period longer than four successive terms of two years unless the terms as State Representative are separated by a period of four or more years. The amendment would also repeal existing language defining how service for part of a term of office affects the eligibility of an individual to hold office under the existing (to be repealed) language limiting terms of office. [3] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
In Ohio, the number of signatures required to get an initiated constitutional amendment placed on the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Ohio also requires initiative sponsors to submit 1,000 signatures with the initial petition application. Ohio has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures be gathered from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties. Petitioners must gather signatures equal to a minimum of half the total required percentage of the gubernatorial vote in each of the 44 counties. Petitions are allowed to circulate for an indefinite period of time. Signatures are due 125 days prior to the general election that proponents want the initiative on.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 443,958 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit the signatures was July 1, 2020.
County boards of elections are responsible for verifying signatures, and the secretary of state must determine the sufficiency of the signature petition at least 105 days before the election. If the first batch of signatures is determined to be insufficient, the petitioners are given a ten-day window to collect more signatures.
Stages of this initiative
- Willa Evans, Brian Steel, and Brian Dean filed the petition on February 19, 2020.[2]
- On February 27, 2020, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost certified the ballot summary. On March 2, 2020, the Ohio Ballot Board cleared the initiative for signature gathering.[4][5]
- The initiative did not submit signatures by the July 1 deadline.[1]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ohio Attorney General, "List of petitions submitted to the Attorney General's Office," accessed February 20, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Ohio Secretary of State, "Complete Text of Initiative," accessed February 20, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ohio Attorney General, "Attorney General Letter," accessed February 28, 2020
- ↑ Ohio Secretary of State, "Letter from Ohio Ballot Board," accessed March 3, 2020
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