01 THE CAMPAIGN AND THE RECORD
The truth behind Issue 3
If you voted yes because you wanted fair elections, I share that goal. Look at what the campaign promised, what Ohio already did at the polls, and what the amendment actually added.
Where Issue 3 came from
Ohio’s in-person photo ID law took effect in April 2023 under House Bill 458. In May 2026, Republican senators Jane Timken and Theresa Gavarone offered Senate Joint Resolution 10 to put the requirement in the Ohio Constitution. The Senate adopted it June 3 and the House adopted it June 10, sending it to the November ballot. 09
The day before the resolution was offered, Vivek Ramaswamy called for an Ohio amendment in the context of the federal SAVE America Act debate. Ohio voters were deciding the separate state proposal. At an October rally in Vandalia, President Trump urged a Yes vote as a chance to stop “Democrat cheaters, fraudsters.” He supplied no evidence of that partisan cheating in his Issue 3 pitch and told the crowd he expected the measure to bring voters out for Republican candidates Jon Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy. 10
The Yes argument promised too much
The official argument said a photo ID check “ensures that only legal votes are counted.” The same document acknowledged that Ohio already required photo ID. The legislature’s analysis said the resolution required no change to the existing statutory ID rules and limited how lawmakers could change them later. The public case offered no independently verifiable evidence that putting the existing requirement in the Constitution would stop fraud Ohio’s existing checks could not catch. The pitch asked voters to credit a constitutional amendment for a safeguard already in use. 11 01
Ask what the numbers actually measured
The official Yes argument cited support above 80% for photo ID generally without identifying a poll. One survey from an organization supporting the amendment shows why the wording matters. It asked the same 800 likely Ohio voters about photo ID and about putting it in the constitution. A separate September poll asked about Issue 3 specifically. 11 12
- June · Photo ID generally
- 86%
- June · Constitutional requirement
- 76%
- September · Issue 3
- 61%
Each poll showed majority support for the question it asked. The figures describe opinions on different questions, and the vote totals alone cannot establish how many people the campaign’s claims persuaded. 12
Apply the same care to fraud headlines. In 2025, Ohio’s secretary of state referred 1,084 suspected unlawful registrations, including 167 people who appeared to have cast a federal ballot across four election cycles. Those referrals asked prosecutors to investigate. In October 2026, federal prosecutors announced three Ohio criminal complaints. Secretary of State Frank LaRose warned that a single case could spoil an election, but his statement identified no result that those alleged offenses changed. To argue that fraud changed a race, show the verified ballots, identify the race, and compare the number with the margin. 13
The amendment adds no new check for a fake ID
Ohio already required photo ID and compared signatures at check-in. The check can help catch in-person impersonation. A photo match alone can’t establish every part of a voter’s eligibility or tell an Ohio poll worker that someone already voted in another state. Issue 3 put the existing ID requirement in the constitution without adding a procedure for authenticating cards or detecting cross-state voting. 02 01
Federal REAL ID rules require security features to deter forgery and help detect fakes. Yet in 2025, federal prosecutors described an Indiana operation that made more than 30,000 fraudulent licenses and other IDs over four years. The seller was paid more than 14 bitcoin, worth over $1.3 million at the January 2025 valuation cited by prosecutors. The case documents a profitable counterfeit operation outside the election context. It tells us nothing about how often fakes are used to vote. 14
Don’t mistake a rule that’s harder to change for an election that’s harder to cheat. If officials want credit for preventing more fraud, ask them to name the new safeguard, show which cases it could have caught, and account for the cost to eligible voters.
02 WHAT YOU GAVE UP
Ohio needs a way to verify voters that protects privacy.
Issue 3 limits the ways Ohio can verify voters in person under ordinary law. Replacing the mandate with a method outside the constitution’s requirements would generally take another amendment. 01
- AT THE POLLS
You locked in the demand for photo ID.
At check-in, Ohio generally makes voters announce their name and current address and show photo ID. I want the state to justify all three demands. The address check is a separate statutory rule. Replacing mandatory photo ID with a method outside Issue 3’s terms would generally require another amendment. 01 02
- FROM HOME
You left the mail-ballot option in lawmakers’ hands.
Current law generally lets a mail voter use an Ohio driver’s license or state ID number, the last four digits of their Social Security number, or a photo ID copy on the signed return envelope. The amendment allows a signature and a qualifying identifier for voting other than in person when state law authorizes that option. Lawmakers could change the statute and require photo ID instead. 01 03
- AFTER YOU VOTE
Your participation can still be looked up.
Ohio makes voter names, addresses and participation histories public, subject to confidentiality exceptions. Ohio law also requires recorded video surveillance of official ballot drop boxes and makes the footage a public record. Your marked ballot remains secret. These separate disclosure rules predate Issue 3 and can be addressed in their own right. 02 03
03 WHAT LAWMAKERS COULD TRY NEXT
The next bill has already had a rehearsal.
In 2026, Ohio lawmakers passed HB 472. It would have required photo ID for most mail voting starting in November 2027, with exceptions and ways to supply a copy or show ID in person. Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed it on June 24. The bill predates Issue 3 and shows what lawmakers already had the power to pursue. 04
A MAIL-BALLOT BILL
Ask for a copy of the card.
A new bill could narrow or remove the current number-based option. Instead of supplying four digits, a voter could be asked to hand over an image showing their face, full document number and any other details printed on that ID. Who gets the copy? How long do they keep it? Can a voter correct a problem before their ballot is rejected? 03 04
A REGISTRATION BILL
Ask more databases to weigh in.
Ohio separately expanded voter-roll checks in 2026. Current law already uses agency information in maintaining the voter database and provides a process to review possible noncitizen registrations. If lawmakers expand those checks again, ask what happens when the records disagree, how a voter will be notified, and how quickly they can correct an error. 05
A PRIVACY BILL
Make disclosure harder, too.
Lawmakers could restrict routine publication of named participation histories while preserving lawful oversight. They could also spell out who may see election ID documents, when copies must be deleted, and how voters can challenge errors. A future bill can give privacy more protection if voters demand it. 02
The people who got Issue 3 on the ballot already showed they can line up the votes for a constitutional change. The next restriction may need only a bill. Pay attention before they have the votes.
04 THE RECORD FROM ROE TO DOBBS
“They would never do that” is a lousy plan for protecting a right.
Roe stood for nearly 50 years. The people who wanted it gone told us what they were working toward. Here is what they said, what they did, and what changed.
- 1984
The party put its agenda in writing.
The Republican platform backed a federal anti-abortion amendment and supported appointing judges who shared the party’s position on unborn life. The aim and the strategy were on the public record decades before Dobbs. 06
- 2016–2020
- 2022
The Court overturned Roe and Casey.
All three Trump appointees joined the Dobbs majority that overturned Roe and Casey. A protection people had relied on for decades gave way once the votes were there. 07
- 2023
Ohio voters wrote a protection back in.
Ohio voters approved a reproductive-freedom amendment to the state constitution. That happened because people used the amendment process to protect a right. Ohio voters can organize around voting privacy, too. 08
Dobbs was a federal court decision. Issue 3 was a state constitutional vote. The warning is about power. People who want to narrow a protection will keep showing up until they have the votes. You have to keep showing up, too.
05 DEMAND ANSWERS NOW
Make lawmakers answer before the next vote.
These are the questions I want answered in writing. Voters can ask them now, while a new bill is still a proposal.
Will you preserve the number-based option for mail voters?
Ask for a clear commitment before another bill tries to replace it with a photo ID requirement.
What information will you collect, and who can see it?
Require an answer on access, retention, error correction, and the ability to cast a ballot that counts.
Will you end routine publication of named voting histories?
Keep aggregate turnout public and preserve lawful access for oversight. 08
Will you support replacing the photo ID mandate with a more private way to verify voters? Ohio can pursue a constitutional change through legislative referral or citizen initiative. 08
06 THE REFORMS
What Ohio should do.
Keep eligibility verification, ballot secrecy, and public audits. Change how much personal information voters have to give up in the process.
Protect participation records.
Keep individual voting history available for authorized election administration, audits, and investigations. Give the public aggregate turnout data. End routine publication of named participation histories and specify limited, lawful access for legitimate oversight.
Replace the photo ID mandate.
Seek a constitutional change that lets Ohio verify eligible voters securely with less personal information. Review the separate statutory requirement to say a full address aloud, and make Ohio justify every field it collects or exposes at check-in.
Report threats from every direction.
Report election threats, suspected violations, confirmed findings, and corrective actions separately. Give election workers a clear channel to report coercion, including pressure from elected officials.
07 TAKE ACTION
Make them answer in writing.
Ask Ohio lawmakers for a public hearing and a written account of what they considered before putting Issue 3 on the ballot. Ask the ACLU of Ohio what it will do now about voting histories and privacy at check-in. Edit either letter in your own voice.
This initiative has no signup form or analytics code and does not ask for your identity or voting history.
08 THE RECORD
Read the sources.
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