Ohio's November 2023 Elections
Writing letters to Ohioans ahead of the November 7 elections.
Reproductive freedom is on the ballot in Ohio this fall. Last month, Ohioans turned out in historic numbers for an August election to protect the power of their vote, defeating an anti-democratic ballot measure and securing a path to codify abortion rights in their state constitution this fall.
Our Vote Forward community wrote more than 232,000 letters to voters in Ohio ahead of the special election, and now it's time to join together again to encourage young women voters to turn out in the state’s November 7 general election.
The letter template and your message
Unlike the August special election, which was solely focused on a ballot measure, this November’s election features races in addition to a ballot measure. The letter template for this campaign informs voters that “Your ballot will include Issue 1, an amendment to the Ohio Constitution titled: The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.” It also states factual information about what is at stake regarding the Issue 1 ballot amendment and what a “Yes” or “No” vote would mean.
We still believe these letters will work best with a nonpartisan volunteer message—meaning no express mention of political parties or candidates. Vote Forward letters refrain from encouraging the recipient to vote for a specific candidate, and the ballot measure highlighted in the template is not about a particular candidate, it's about a measure that would directly impact millions of Ohioans. Overall, our usual guidance for what to write in your letters still applies. We also encourage you to check out our personal story guide when crafting your message.
FAQs
If Vote Forward is nonpartisan, why are we involved in this ballot measure? Ballot measures are nonpartisan. Vote Forward remains committed to our mission of empowering grassroots volunteers to encourage their fellow citizens in underrepresented communities to vote.
Can I write "Vote Yes" in my message? The letter template itself highlights what voting “yes” or "no" would mean in Ohio. We would also encourage you to refer to our personal story guide to help craft your message.
Why are we writing letters to young women voters in particular? This ballot measure holds important implications for every Ohio voter, but because we have such a short time to write letters, we won't be able to reach everyone. Given the specific impact this ballot measure could have on reproductive freedom in Ohio, there's a lot at stake for young Ohio women in this election. More generally, young voters hold huge power to shape our democracy's future, yet they do not always participate in our elections, especially in odd-year elections, like this one. The young women voters who will receive our Ohio letters are unlikely to turn out to vote in an election like this one—but if they do, their votes could have a big impact.
How do we know these letters won't go to voters who disagree with us? These letters are part of Vote Forward’s Social, or c3, campaigns. Our Social campaigns align with our core mission of helping to encourage historically marginalized groups in the electorate to vote. We cannot consider information like party affiliations or leanings while creating our lists of voters. We do know that we are writing to young women, aged 18–35.