America’s states are sometimes referred to as “laboratories of democracy” since their policies can shape policies on the national level. However, in an America where democracy is eroding, states are beginning to see a trickle-down democratic erosion, where a culture of erosion on the national level is starting to be seen in state governments, and there’s no better state to see that in action than Ohio, specifically through the recent developments pertaining to Ohio’s referendums.

Referendums themselves are nothing new to America’s states, as many have referendums for a number of things. However, in some states referendums are the main way for the opposition to legislate by avoiding legislative barriers and appealing to the public directly. Ohio’s opposition has specifically been forced to make the best use of referendums that it can, due to years of being out of power in the state.

Ohio’s de facto one-party system makes referendums the opposition’s only choice.

The current opposition in Ohio is its Democratic Party, and the party’s focus on referendums reflects their decades long lockout from any sort of lawmaking power in the state. Ohio has only had one democratic governor since 1991, only serving for four years, and Ohio’s Democrats haven’t had full control of the state legislature since 1985. Because of their failure to gain control of the legislature and executive, Ohio has functionally become a one-party state. The complete control of the state by the Republican Party—the lack of a change in power between parties—is a sign of democratic erosion identified by scholars such as Huq Aziz and Thomas Ginsberg. However, the most egregious signs of democratic erosion appeared with the rise of attempts to change the referendum system in 2023. 

The controversies surrounding Ohio’s two Issue Ones in 2023 highlight the start of major democratic erosion. 

 In early 2023, it was decided that a referendum to enshrine reproductive rights in Ohio would be presented to Ohio’s voters in November. The referendum was opposed by the Republican Party, and the same month it was decided the referendum would go forward, another referendum was submitted. This new referendum had a few provisions, but the main one of note was the provision that any referendum would need to have a supermajority of 60% to be approved. This was followed by the decision to hold the referendum on a nontraditional date before the abortion initiative in the fall. While the supermajority referendum failed, and the abortion referendum passed, the fact that the actions even took place are a clear sign of democracy eroding. 

As identified by Huq and Ginsberg, one of the key mechanisms of democratic erosion is removing the influence of the opposition, and the situation regarding the referendums is a clear sign of the Ohio Republican Party’s efforts to do so. Ohio’s partisan makeup already makes successful Democratic referendums unlikely, therefore the idea of needing a supermajority would effectively remove any chances of a Democratic-led referendum passing. By removing that process, the Democratic Party would functionally have no realistic way to enact its policy goals, leading to complete Republican dominance on legislating. 

This party dominance itself as stated earlier is a key sign of democratic erosion, but the attempts to change the rules itself is another sign of democratic erosion identified by David Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky in their book How Democracies Die? As well as scholars such as Ozan Varol. Seeing this in the Republican Party’s actions is simple. Under the current rules, they didn’t like that they could potentially lose a referendum on a key issue, and so they decided that instead of trying to win democratically, they would game the system. Going even further, holding the supermajority referendum on a day with higher turnout could’ve meant a loss, so they chose an abnormal date to reduce turnout. Using the electoral system to erode democracy as is identified by Varol. 

What occurred was an attempt to erode a democratic process and block the people’s will. That itself is nothing new for the Ohio Republican Party, especially considering their long fight to keep gerrymandered maps. 

The efforts to continue gerrymandering is yet more evidence that democratic erosion has its grip on Ohio. 

Gerrymandering is nothing new to American states, however Ohio’s Republican Party has fiercely resisted popular efforts to end it. Referendums in 2015 and 2018 both showed popular support to end gerrymandering in the state, but the Ohio Republican Party has showed little to no respect for the results. Abuse of democratic institutions is yet another sign of democratic erosion by Ziblatt and Levitsky, and the Ohio Republican Party has done everyone in its power to bypass the institutional checks created by the referendums when it comes to gerrymandering.

In response, a third referendum has arrived in 2024, which removes politicians from the process entirely, and the Republican controlled executive has opted to try and influence the result by changing the ballot language. In this case, it’s a clear democratic erosion mechanism identified by Huq and Ginsberg, that being the politicization of the executive. However, it is also important to understand that the Republican dedication to maintaining gerrymandering is a key reason the opposition must rely on the referendum system. Simply put, the Ohio Republican Party is absolutely trying to destroy any sense of victory on any front for the opposition and continue to run Ohio as a de facto one-party state. 

The battle over referendums has revealed a party unwilling to give up power.

Combining the multitude of events around these referendums, what’s become clear is the unwillingness of Ohio’s Republican Party to give up power. The reasoning could be partisanship, but the reasoning isn’t truly what’s important. What’s important is that a party is doing everything it can to deny any victory to the opposition. Changing the rules, abusing the executive, trying to lock out any potential gain in the legislature through gerrymandering, while every action itself holds a sign of democratic erosion, the most pressing sign on democratic erosion here is the fact that the party is unwilling to give up power. While they’ll continue to have elections under the watchful eye of the federal government, they’ll do everything in their power to ensure that they always end with the same result. 

While this is simply Ohio’s story, and the party that wishes to retain power is the Republican Party, this is a sad tale that’s played out in many states across the two parties and is a key sign of America’s struggling democracy, as in many states, parties are doing everything they can to bypass democracy to ensure an unending hold on power.