The signature campaign to place two equal rights-related constitutional amendments on the 2026 ballot will now instead target the 2027 ballot.
Ohio Equal Rights (OER), the organization spearheading the campaign, said various factors contributed to the shift to the 2027 ballot, including the need to be more strategic with resources, the opportunity to collaborate with more organizations and recent threats to voter registration, including last week’s FBI raid of a voter registration organization.
“Hopefully it will be a little calmer next year,” said OER executive co-chair Lis Regula. “We’re essentially adopting the [reproductive justice] strategy and going for an off-year election instead of a midterm.”
The two amendments would:
- Prohibit the Ohio legislature and local municipalities from enacting or enforcing laws or policies that would discriminate against Ohioans on the basis of race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression regardless of sex assigned at birth, pregnancy status, genetic information, disease status, age, disability, recovery status, familial status, ancestry, national origin or military and veteran status.
- Repeal the current language in Ohio’s Constitution that defines marriage as “only a union between one man and one woman.”
Following a decision by Ohio’s Republican-controlled Ballot Board in 2025 that split OER’s original proposal into two amendments, organizers have until July 1 of the year of the intended ballot to collect and submit 442,958 valid signatures for each issue. Signatures must be from registered voters in at least half of Ohio’s 88 counties.
That’s over 880,000 signatures total for both amendments to appear on the ballot.
The signature process has already begun at various events, notably Pride celebrations, and will continue without interruption, with the signatures carrying over into next year.
No language in the voter referendum section of the Ohio Revised Code indicates that collected signatures can expire. The code stipulates only that the signatures must represent a “qualified elector”: U.S. citizens who are 18 years of age and older, who have resided in Ohio at least 30 days before the election and who have been registered to vote for at least 30 days.
OER organizers acknowledge that postponing the target election until 2027 might increase the likelihood that some signatures will become invalid – chiefly due to individuals moving out of state – but said that outcome is potentially true in any referendum campaign.
“That is why we’re making sure that our validity rate is as high as possible,” said Regula.
OER organizers decline to share how many signatures have been already collected, but said that the process is “going well” and that they have had “great conversations” with individuals regarding the two amendments.
Regula said that the right to marry amendment was “a little behind” the signature count of the equal protections amendment, “but not by much.” That outcome can be explained by the perception that marriage equality is already settled law under Obergefell v. Hodges, which established marriage equality in 2016.
“It is always harder to argue for proactive policy than reactive policy,” Regula said. “Our brains respond better to threat than they do progress, and not everyone currently knows the threat to marriage equality.”
Organizers hope that interested parties come and find them at their local Pride celebrations to learn more.
“If you have the time and the desire, volunteer,” Regula said. “There are literally things that we can find for anybody to do.” 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- Ohio Equal Rights invites individuals and groups interested in collaborating on this initiative to reach out via the organization’s website by clicking here.
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