Ohio Issue 1 Election Results 2023: Live updates

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the second time in three months, the national debate over reproductive rights focuses on Ohio as voters decide whether to amend the state Constitution to protect access to abortion services.

The measure has become one of the nation’s highest-profile contests on the ballot this year and is the latest state-level skirmish over the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Issue 1 Election results:
*Results will begin to populate once polls close at 7:30 p.m.

🗳️ ELECTION RESULTS: Check here for updated results.

The proposed state constitutional amendment, labeled “Issue 1” on the ballot, would establish the right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” on matters including abortion, contraception and fertility treatment. It would also allow for abortions to be banned once it has been established that the fetus can survive outside of the womb, unless a physician determines that continuing with the pregnancy would endanger the patient’s “life or health.”

Abortion rights supporters have had a sizable fundraising advantage throughout the campaign, according to campaign spending records, but opponents of the measure nonetheless have been active in trying to frame the issue for voters. Misinformation about the proposal has spread in TV ads and online. Backers of the amendment have also criticized wording changes to the language that appears on ballots.

In August, voters defeated a separate proposed state constitutional amendment that did not specifically mention abortion or reproductive rights but attracted national attention from activists on both sides of the issue. That proposal would have required future changes to the state constitution to receive at least 60% of support from voters to pass, rather than a simple majority. Had that measure passed, it would have made it more difficult to approve Tuesday’s proposal on abortion.

In 2022, 59% of voters in Ohio’s midterm elections supported abortion being legal in most or all cases, according to AP VoteCast.

Here is how Issue 1’s changes are outlined by the certified ballot language:

• Establish in the Constitution of the State of Ohio an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion;
• Create legal protections for any person or entity that assists a person with receiving reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion;
• Prohibit the State from directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing or prohibiting abortion before an unborn child is determined to be viable, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means;
• Grant a pregnant woman’s treating physician the authority to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether an unborn child is viable;
• Only allow the State to prohibit an abortion after an unborn child is determined by a pregnant woman’s treating physician to be viable and only if the physician does not consider the abortion necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life or health;
• Always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability if, in the treating physician’s determination, the abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life of health.

If passed, Issue 1 would take effect 30 days after the election.

📺 ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE: We’re bringing you live election coverage all night long on 10TV.com, the 10TV app, YouTube and every free 10TV+ streaming platform, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.

The statewide election in Ohio will be held on Tuesday. Polls close at 7:30 p.m. ET.

All registered voters in Ohio are eligible to vote on the two statewide ballot measures. The deadline to register was Oct. 10. Ohio does not allow Election Day registration.

WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE

As of June 16, there were 7.9 million voters registered in Ohio. The state does not register voters by party.

For the Aug. 8 statewide ballot measure, turnout was 39% of registered voters. It was 51% in the 2022 congressional midterm general election.

By the end of October, almost 385,000 voters had cast ballots before Election Day, 61% cast early in person and 39% cast by mail.

In August, 23% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day. In the 2022 general election, it was 35%.

HOW LONG DOES VOTE COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

In the Aug. 8 ballot measure election, the AP first reported results at 7:35 p.m. ET, or five minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 1:51 a.m. ET with about 99% of total votes counted.