UPDATE 8/3/2023: Now through the election August 8, check out this calendar for phonebanks (and canvassing events, if you're in Ohio) to see how you can help in Tuesday's election. Read more about Ohio's special election voting below!

Our leaders in Ohio have a time-sensitive ask for the Bend the Arc community. 

The quick story: Ohioans gathered enough signatures to get abortion access on the ballot in November 🥳, but extremist GOP lawmakers scheduled a special election next week to make it harder for ballot measures to pass 😡.

Here are 3 things you can do to help protect voting rights and reproductive freedoms:

• Read about the issue in the email from our Ohio leaders below.
• Textbank with us Thursday, August 3 at 7pm ET. Bend the Arc is co-sponsoring a textbank with National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA), and Voteriders. RSVP for the textbank at 7pm ET and the Jewish pre-call at 6:30pm ET.
• Phonebank with us every day before August 8. Jump on a phonebank shift to get out the vote for abortion rights between now and the special election. RSVP here for a phonebank shift. If you're in Ohio, you can also sign up for in-person canvasses.

In solidarity,

The Bend the Arc team

From: Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Ohio
Subject: Breaking news on reproductive freedom in Ohio

Friend,

First the good news: we made it to the ballot in November! For months, we worked hard alongside coalition partners to obtain signatures to get abortion protections on the Ohio state ballot. Yesterday, the Ohio Secretary of State announced that the coalition submitted the required number of signatures to place the Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety citizen-initiated constitutional amendment on the 2023 General Election ballot. 

The bad news: Extremist lawmakers, predicting our success, lobbied to create a special election on August 8th to end 100 years of majority rule in Ohio. Issue 1 would create a 60% threshold for votes to amend Ohio’s constitution, allowing 40% of voters to veto the will of the majority.

Join us to turn out voters to vote NO on 1 on 8/8

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Ohio is partnering with a powerful coalition — including the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Pro Choice Ohio, Ohio Women's Alliance, and more — to turn out voters to vote NO on 1 on 8/8.

We need all hands on deck to mobilize Ohioans. Can you sign up for a shift? View the calendar of phonebanks, canvasses, and trainings to defeat Issue 1 on August 8.

We all want the freedom to make decisions that impact our lives, but politicians and special interests don’t like the organizing we’ve done to get reproductive freedom on the ballot in November. Unless we vote NO on August 8th they will rewrite the rules to give themselves even more power. 

This is about one person equaling one vote. This is about the voice of the people. This is about fighting authoritarian attempts to take away our freedoms and our ability to protect one another. As Jews, we must turn out to vote NO on Issue 1 and defeat it. 

We have less than 2 weeks: sign up here for a phonebank or canvass to defeat Issue 1 on August 8.

Forward together,

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Ohio