Dear Editor,

Voting No on Issue 1 protects our freedoms and majority rule.

For more than a century, Ohio citizens have been able to pass an amendment to the state Constitution with a simple majority of votes. Issue 1 threatens majority rule and allows only 40% of voters to stop proposals that are supported by 60%.

The Constitution belongs to the people of Ohio and we have a right to amend it with a popular majority.

We must all do our civic duty.

Working families in this state deserve the ability to have a say in what our Constitution says and who gets to amend it. Issue 1 permanently shreds our Constitution and makes it harder for the majority of voters to have a voice.

Issue 1 is being funded by the same special interests and out of touch (and out of state) billionaires who have been cutting pensions, outsourcing our jobs, and making it harder for working people to get by. We need to protect our vote and our voice.

Former Governors Kasich, Taft, Strickland, and Celeste all think that Issue 1 is a bad idea that would hurt our state.

Vote no on August 8.

Mel Woods

Rayland