List of All Articles with Tag 'election'

Ohio concludes a hastily called and highly charged special election Tuesday, a contest that could determine the fate of abortion rights in the state and fuel political playbooks nationally heading into 2024. On the ballot is Issue 1, a proposal to raise the threshold for passing future changes to the state's constitution from a simple majority to 60%. But more passionately in the sights of the proposal's backers — including Republican officeholders — is a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that calls for enshrining access to reproductive care in the state's foundational document. The measure was clearly resonating with voters, who turned out in huge numbers during the early voting period, which ended Sunday. The number of advance ballots cast — a combination of mail and early in-person ballots — hit nearly 700,000, more than double the early vote during the state's two previous midterm primary elections in 2022 and 2018. Ohio's August elections have historically focused on local issues and been plagued with chronically low turnout. The Republican lawmakers who backed Issue 1 maintained that the measure was not about thwarting the fall abortion amendment, despite reinstating an August special election just like the ones they had only recently voted to eliminate. Raising the bar for passing citizen-led constitutional amendments could make it difficult, if not impossible, for the fall proposal to succeed, based on polling figures. Voters in several states, even deeply conservative ones, have affirmed abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, though usually with less than 60% of the vote. AP VoteCast polling last year found that 59% of Ohio voters say abortion should generally be legal. Out-of-state money has poured into both sides of the contest over the 60% threshold, even as both supporters and opponents say one of their main goals is to keep special interests from having more influence over state policy than average Ohioans. The campaign in favor of Issue 1, Protect Our Constitution, has told voters that raising the threshold will keep deep-pocketed interest groups from pushing redistricting, gun control and minimum wage policies on Ohio. One Person One Vote, the opposition campaign, argues that raising the threshold for passing future amendments would prioritize the interests of Ohio's increasingly conservative GOP supermajority at the statehouse over those of everyday voters. But abortion rights are at the epicenter of the fight, as Ohio and other states have been given control of their own abortion policies following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer. Ohio's ban on most abortions had been placed on hold under Roe and then allowed to take effect briefly after the court overturned it. Since then, it has been frozen again while a challenge alleging it violates the state constitution plays out. The abortion amendment would give individuals the right to make their own reproductive health care decisions, including on contraception, fertility treatment, abortion and miscarriage care, until a fetus is viable outside the womb. At the same time, a broad bipartisan coalition opposes Issue 1 for other reasons. Former Ohio governors and attorneys general of both parties have come out against the constitutional change, calling it poor public policy. If passed it would reverse 111 years of direct democracy that has the potential to affect future citizen-led ballot efforts. Protect Women Ohio, the campaign against the fall abortion question, has spent millions on the August election — airing ads suggesting the measure not only codifies abortion, but could pressure children into receiving gender-affirming care and undercut parental rights. Several legal experts have said there is no language in the amendment supporting the ads' claims, but it follows a pattern through this election cycle of misinformation and fear-mongering being used to sway voters. Issue 1 opponents have aired ads and mobilized a large coalition, including voting rights, labor, faith and community groups, as well as the state Democratic Party. It was because of chronically low turnout that lawmakers voted just last year to scrap summer elections, prompting an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging this year's August special election violated the new law and calling further into question if it was brought back solely to thwart abortion rights for Ohioans. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Attacks at US medical centers show why health care is one of the nation's most violent fields Ohio election that revolves around abortion rights fueled by national groups, money Taylor Swift bracelet-trading trend makes way to Women’s World Cup in Australia

The ballot initiative Ohio voters will decide Tuesday is likely to demonstrate again the continuing public resistance to last year's Supreme Court decision ending the nationwide constitutional right to abortion -- while also offering an early indication about how broadly that backlash may benefit Democrats in the 2024 election.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has reached the donor threshold to qualify for the first GOP presidential debate later this month in Milwaukee, an aide told CNN on Monday.

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan received subpoenas to testify before a Fulton County grand jury this month, a source with direct knowledge of the 2020 election interference investigation in the state told CNN.

By Jacqueline Thomsen WASHINGTON Donald Trump's lawyers told a federal judge on Monday that strictly limiting the public

A dermatologist who was ambassador to Iceland during Donald Trump’s administration is running for U.S. Senate in Nevada

Former President Donald Trump's legal team has proposed more lax rules than those sought by prosecutors over what he can do with evidence he is provided in the criminal election interference case.

Donald Trump’s legal team is urging the judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against the former president to reject prosecutors’ proposed protective order concerning evidence in the case, describing it as overly broad

Donald Trump ally Bernie Kerik met Monday with special counsel Jack Smith's investigators who are handling the probe related to the 2020 election aftermath and the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

Donald Trump will seek to starve his rivals for the Republican nomination of the exposure they need to

Bill Barr is open to testifying in Donald Trump’s upcoming criminal trial should he be asked, the former attorney general revealed on Sunday. Mr Barr was speaking with CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation when he was asked the same question that Mike Pence was asked on NBC — would he testify in Mr Trump’s January 6 trial when it goes to court? And while the former vice president hemmed and hawed before indicating that he wouldn’t try and dodge a subpoena for his testimony, Mr Barr got straight to the point. “Of course,” he responded. He also reinforced during the same interview that he had told the president multiple times before the attack on the Capitol that the claims of widespread election fraud being pushed by his campaign were false. The federal government is planning to argue that Mr Trump ignored the reality of the situation and pushed forward with a plan to interfere in the election’s certification despite having been advised his efforts were unconstitutional and not backed up by the facts surrounding the election. Mr Barr is one of a number of ex-Trump administration officials who have come forward and said that government agencies never saw any convincing evidence to support the Trump campaign’s claims of a stolen election; he, in particular, has referred to the conspiracies spread by Rudy Giuliani et al as “bulls***”. But the Trump circle continues to insist that long-debunked claims of phantom ballots and votes from dead people are legitimate, while also making the bizarre insistence that the Trump-controlled federal government’s warnings to social media companies about potential Russian disinformation efforts led to the unfair suppression of stories in conservative media about Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s adult son. Republicans have argued that emails sent by the younger Biden indicate an influence-trading scheme involving foreign interests and now-President Joe Biden, though this remains wholly unproven. Former President Trump is now facing 78 criminal charges spread across state and federal jurisdictions, including four relating to his campaign to overturn the lawful and valid results of the 2020 election. The federal government argues that Mr Trump’s efforts to block Mr Biden from being certified as the winner of the election on January 6 after his failure to prove fraud in the courts constituted an effort to deprive millions of Americans of their right to a duly-elected leader. He has denied wrongdoing in all of his criminal matters. The ex-president is expected to face more charges, according to his own legal team, in Georgia’s ongoing grand jury investigation into Mr Trump’s efforts to change the election results in that state. A decision on that matter is expected this month. Read More DeSantis won’t rule out national abortion ban but suggests there’s no ‘mileage’ left in Congress Trump has meltdown attacking Biden, Megan Rapinoe and ‘wokeness’ for US Women’s World Cup loss – latest news DeSantis finally acknowledges the truth about Trump's 2020 election lies: 'Of course he lost'

By Rich McKay and Josephine Walker ATLANTA Law-enforcement officers surrounded the Fulton County courthouse on Monday in downtown