Two state elections with specific abortion-rights elections garnered more national attention than the others — Kansas and Ohio.
In Ohio last year, voters were first asked whether the state should make it much more difficult for citizen initiatives to qualify for the ballot by requiring signatures from all 88 counties instead of the current 44, removing a 10-day “cure” period to fix issues with signatures, and increasing the margin for an initiative to pass from a simple majority to a supermajority of 60%.
The election for that question, called Issue 1, was held on Aug. 8, and it failed by a wide margin, with 57% opposed.
…later, Ohioans were asked to vote again on the question of adding the right for an individual to make and carry out their own reproductive decisions and only allow the state to restrict abortion after fetal viability, with exceptions… It was also called Issue 1, and passed by nearly the same margin as the August election, with 56.7% in favor.
In both states, those advocating for abortion rights were campaigning with many more dollars to spare, from special interest groups as well as individuals from across the country.