Ohio voters will have a whole slate of statewide candidates to choose from this fall, but just one ballot issue is going before them.
Members of the Ohio Ballot Board have given the green light for the language for Issue 3, which asks voters whether they should have to show government-issued photo ID for any in-person voting.
That’s already required to vote, before and on Election Day, and it has been since 2023.
But the GOP-majority legislature has said the photo ID law they fought to get to Gov. Mike DeWine three years ago isn’t enough. In June, in a mad dash before summer recess, both chambers ratified a resolution to get it onto ballots statewide.
“By enshrining this language in the (Ohio) Constitution, we are really setting a floor, so that future general assemblies won’t be able to go backwards,” Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) told reporters Monday.
The Pew Research Center found that more than 80% of Americans in 2025 were proponents of photo ID.
Right now, an Ohio voter generally needs a state driver’s license or ID card, a United States passport or passport card, or a military ID, and Issue 3 would make that harder to change.
Democrats have, generally, come out against Issue 3, saying it is an effort by the majority to boost turnout.
“My colleagues, sometimes, are short-sighted,” Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) told reporters Monday. “It’s bad. Every Democrat voted against this, in the House and the Senate.”
No statewide citizen-led efforts made the 2026 ballot, including the ones proposing banning property taxes or large-scale data centers. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said getting enough signatures has been the barrier for many of them.
“That’s a good thing,” LaRose told reporters Monday. “If you’re going to bring a question in front of the voters to amend the very founding document of our state, there should be a high bar for that.”
Election Day is less than 100 days away.
