With abortion rights on the line, an August special election has Ohio election offices scrambling

By JULIE CARR SMYTH
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A high-stakes August special election with national political implications is upending local election offices across Ohio. Already stressed, they must lure poll workers away from vacations, relocate polling places booked with summer weddings or maintenance, and repeatedly retest ballot language after the state’s high court found errors in the original wording. The short timeline was imposed by Republican state lawmakers, who reversed their own law that had eliminated most August elections. The question on the ballot would raise the voter threshold for passing future constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%. It’s intended to thwart an abortion rights amendment coming in November.