Ballotpedia completed an inventory of all Ohio ballot measures since 1910. Between 1910 and 2024, Ohioans voted on 306 ballot measures. Voters approved 169 measures (55.2%) and rejected 137 measures (44.8%).
In Ohio, measures can be placed on the ballot through the state legislature as well as through citizen initiatives. Between 1910 and 2024, the Ohio State Legislature referred 206 measures to the ballot, while citizen initiatives accounted for 100 measures. Legislatively referred measures were approved 69% of the time, compared to 26% for ballot initiatives.
There are seven different types of ballot measures in Ohio. Legislatively referred constitutional amendments have appeared on the ballot the highest number of times (157). Constitutional convention referrals had the highest success rate, with 81% of the 42 measures approved by voters. Veto referendums had the lowest success rate, with only 15.38% of the 13 measures receiving voter approval. However, in veto referendums, a ‘no’ vote overturns the targeted legislation.
Ohio ballot measures addressed 67 unique topics. The top three topics were taxes (43 measures), bond issues (37 measures), and state judiciary measures (31 measures). Other notable topics in Ohio included alcohol and direct democracy.
Of the 306 ballot measures on the statewide ballot in Ohio, seven were decided by less than a percentage point of the vote.
The measure with the closest margin was the Ratification of Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition) of U.S. Constitution Referendum, decided by voters in 1919.
The measure with the closest margin was the Ratification of Federal Prohibition Referendum, decided by voters in 1919, which would have ratified the federal prohibition on alcohol. The measure was defeated, with 49.98% of voters approving and 50.02% opposing. However, as a veto referendum, this result meant voters rejected the legislature’s decision to ratify the 18th Amendment. The outcome led to a court case that ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in 1920, ruled that veto referendums on federal constitutional amendments were invalid under the U.S. Constitution. Justice William Rufus Day wrote the court’s opinion, which held that “It is true that the power to legislate in the enactment of the laws of a state is derived from the people of the state. But the power to ratify a proposed amendment to the federal Constitution has its source in the federal Constitution.”
The measure with the widest margin was the Constitutional Convention Question in 1910, which proposed convening a state constitutional convention to revise or amend the Ohio Constitution. It passed with 91.1% voting in favor and 8.9% opposed, resulting in a margin of 82.2%. This measure led to the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1912, which proposed 42 constitutional amendments. Voters decided on these amendments in a special election on September 3, 1912. Amendments included the initiative and referendum process, primary elections, labor regulations, women’s suffrage, and others.
The decade with the most ballot measures was the 1910s, which featured 70 ballot measures. Forty-one measures (58.57%) were approved, and 29 (41.43%) were defeated. The decade with the highest approval percentage was the 1940s, which featured 10 measures—nine (90%) were approved, and one (10%) was defeated. The decade with the lowest approval rating was the 1920s. The decade featured 22 ballot measures—five (22.73%) were approved and 17 (77.27%) were defeated.
The next state ballot measure election in Ohio is scheduled for May 6, 2025. Voters will decide on Issue 2, which would allow the state to issue up to $2.5 billion in general obligation bonds, limited to $250 million per year over 10 years, to assist local governments in funding public infrastructure improvement projects. Since 1910, voters have decided on 37 ballot measures related to bond issues in Ohio, approving 24 (64.9%) and rejecting 13 (35.1%).
The inventory of Ohio statewide ballot measures is part of Ballotpedia’s Historical Ballot Measure Fact Book, which will document nearly 200 years of direct democracy in the United States. This ongoing research effort will provide an unparalleled resource for researchers, reporters, and the voting public on how ballot measures have evolved, the issues they’ve covered, and the role they have played in our civic life.