State Issues 2 and 3 are competiting proposed constitutional amendments addressing marijuana legalization and monopolies in the Ohio Constitution. What happens if:
Both 2 & 3 fail
Status quo remains. Marijuana is still illegal and there are no changes to the state constitution.
Both 2 & 3 pass
Since the two issues conflict, it’ll be up to the courts to decide which issue trumps the other.
Issue 2 passes, Issue 3 fails
It’ll be more difficult for certain citizen groups to get an initiative question on the state ballot, marijuana remains illegal.
Issue 2 fails, Issue 3 passes
There will be no change to the initiative process and Ohio will see a legal marijuana industry get underway next year.
MARIJUANA COVERAGE
Read our past stories, get your questions answered and watch video of our Marijuana: Ohio Decides town hall at DaytonDailyNews.com/ohiomarijuana.
ELECTION COVERAGE
What's on the ballot? Learn more about the candidates and tax issues on the Nov. 3 ballot in our interactive election guide at vote.daytondailynews.com
Election night radio special: Tune in to AM1290 and News 95.7FM from 8-11 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3 for the latest updates.
Live results: Get results on the key races and issues on the ballot Tuesday night at DaytonDailyNews.com and on WHIO-TV Channel 7.
MARIJUANA COVERAGE
Read our past stories, get your questions answered and watch video of our Marijuana: Ohio Decides town hall at DaytonDailyNews.com/ohiomarijuana.
ELECTION COVERAGE
What's on the ballot? Learn more about the candidates and tax issues on the Nov. 3 ballot in our interactive election guide at vote.daytondailynews.com
Election night radio special: Tune in to AM1290 and News 95.7FM from 8-11 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3 for the latest updates.
Live results: Get results on the key races and issues on the ballot Tuesday night at DaytonDailyNews.com and on WHIO-TV Channel 7.
One side is spending money, the other side — for the most part — isn’t.
One side has the backing of some 100 organizations, while the other side boasts the star power of people like former boy band singer Nick Lachey.
One side is banking on a strong turnout of young people while the other side hopes it can sway voters with warnings of the potential harm done to young people.
It’s a big election that could determine whether Ohio becomes the first state to go to full legalization of marijuana without first legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.
But even after Tuesday, there might not be clarity over whether Ohioans support making pot legal. The Issue 3 battle has become not so much a fight over marijuana, but a fight over something normally not associated with marijuana: monopolies.
Backers of ResponsibleOhio’s Issue 3 campaign have spent the past year collecting more than 700,000 petition signatures, raising more than $20 million from 10 select investor groups, deploying a controversial costumed superhero named ‘Buddie,” and trotting out supporters that have included Lachey, basketball great Oscar Robinson, TV talk show star Montel Williams and Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters.
Meanwhile, Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies — the chief group opposing Issue 3 — has been getting by on less than one-fortieth of what the Yes on 3 side has spent on TV ads, full-color mailings, hired guns and more.
Late last week, canvassers paid through the ResponsibleOhio campaign were knocking on doors in Columbus, hoping to squeeze out a few more yes votes. Meanwhile, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted held a press conference at a trucking company in Dayton, where he warned about economic peril if Issue 3 passes.
Absent a flush bank account, Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies has been racking up endorsements from organizations such as the Ohio Farm Bureau and Ohio Hospital Association, and using press conferences and community forums to argue against Issue 3.
“You name a group, we got them. They are uniting against Issue 3 in a manner I’ve never seen before in an issue campaign. I think that’s awfully hard to beat, no matter how much you spend,” said state Rep. Mike Curtin, D-Marble Cliff, who is the former editor of the Columbus Dispatch and an outspoken critic of Issue 3. “I’m hopeful that their campaign will set a record for most dollars spent for fewest votes. If that happens, it’s a great story.”
But ResponsibleOhio’s Ian James said the campaign against Issue 3 has distorted what legalization would mean for Ohio.
“Legalizing marijuana for medical and adult, personal use will make it safer, create a multi-billion dollar industry with 30,000 jobs, bring in hundreds of millions in tax revenue to our communities and still allow employers to enforce non-use policies on their job sites,” he wrote in an email.
The No on 3 crowd has benefitted from a political establishment that opposes legalizing marijuana and has lobbied hard against what they say is a marijuana monopoly that would be written into the state constitution.
ResponsibleOhio has disputed the monopoly claim, but had to run ads attempting to assure voters that its plan allows for competition.
Husted even included the word “monopoly” in the title for the ballot issue and the Ohio Supreme Court backed him up on it. The Ohio Ballot Board wrote language sympathetic to the no side. And Curtin and his fellow lawmakers put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot — state Issue 2 — designed to thwart Issue 3, even if voters endorse Issue 3.
Voting cheat sheet
It’s been a bruising campaign and, for many, a confusing one. But for those still unsure of what the two competing issues are all about, here is a voting cheat sheet:
Issue 3 is a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use by adults, let people grow a limited number of pot plants at home, and give the only commercial growing licenses to 10 parcels controlled by the campaign investors.
Issue 2 is a proposed constitutional amendment put forth by state lawmakers to block future monopolies from being installed in the Ohio constitution and make sure Issue 3 doesn’t take effect.
If you want to legalize marijuana and don’t mind 10 investors controlling all the cultivation, vote yes on 3.
If you don’t want 10 investors controlling all the marijuana cultivation and/or you oppose legalizing marijuana, vote no on 3.
If you want it to be more difficult for certain citizen-initiatives — those involving monopolies or special tax rates — to make the ballot and make double sure marijuana isn’t legalized, vote yes on 2.
If you don’t like the idea of making citizen-driven ballot issues more difficult, vote no on 2.
Hard to predict
Both sides last week expressed confidence they will prevail, but it is very difficult to forecast the result of Tuesday’s vote because of uncertainty over turnout and possible voter confusion.
Polling shows a majority of Ohioans favor allowing adults to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use and 80 percent to 90 percent support legalizing medical marijuana. But that kind of support may or may not translate into a majority voting yes on Issue 3, which is opposed by health, labor, business and professional groups that have urged their members to vote against the plan.
A poll conducted by Zogby Analytics for Bowling Green State University in October found 44 percent of likely Ohio voters support Issue 3, 43 percent oppose it and nearly 13 percent were undecided. Issue 2 is headed for approval with 55.8 percent support, 30.4 percent opposition and 13.7 percent undecided, the poll found.
Marijuana legalization hinges on who goes to the polls Tuesday. Odd-year election year turnout has averaged 38.5 percent over the past 20 years. Off-year voters tend to be white, older and more conservative — those who typically oppose legalization. Still, ResponsibleOhio is gambling that marijuana legalization will drive younger, atypical voters to the polls and they are trying to appeal to the solid majority of voters who support medical marijuana.
Early voting numbers reported last week by the Secretary of State did not show promise for a big turnout. By mid-week, 148,550 absentee ballots had been cast while another 179,835 had yet to be returned. That is far below the 680,656 early votes cast in 2011 when voters decided a referendum on Senate Bill 5, the controversial measure to gut collective bargaining rights for public employee unions.
If all the outstanding absentee ballots are returned, early voting this year will be on par with 2013 when 332,543 voters cast early ballots. That year there were no statewide issues on the ballot.
Staff Writer Ken McCall contributed to this story.
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