Ohio’s 2026 ballot measures

1 statewide measure on the ballot.

One statewide issue is on Ohio's Nov. 3, 2026 ballot: Issue 3, a constitutional amendment proposed by the General Assembly (Substitute Senate Joint Resolution 10, 136th General Assembly). The Secretary of State's Directive 2026-45 statewide sample ballot (dated Aug. 20, 2026) shows Issue 3 as the only statewide question, and Secretary LaRose's certification of the issue (Aug. 3, 2026) covers it alone. The Ohio Ballot Board's page lists no referendum and no initiated amendment or statute with certified ballot language for this election. Ohio numbers statewide issues in one running series (the Secretary of State says numbering continues to Issue 500 before restarting), so there is no Issue 1 or 2 on this ballot. The ballot language and explanation below are the official text certified by the Ohio Ballot Board on Aug. 3, 2026, copied from the Secretary of State's Issue 3 report as reprinted by the Lake County Board of Elections (saved). The ballot language is word for word the same in the Cuyahoga issues list, Warren County's Issue 3 file and Delaware County's 46-day notice (all saved) and in the Ballot Board's certified ballot language; the explanation appears only in the Lake reprint among the saved files and matches the Ballot Board's certified explanation as read.

Issue 3 · Legislatively referred constitutional amendment (proposed by joint resolution of the General Assembly; enacts Section 5 of Article V)

TO REQUIRE VOTERS TO PRESENT PHOTO IDENTIFICATION IN ORDER TO VOTE

Issue 3 would put a photo-ID rule for voting into the state constitution. In-person voters would have to show one of a short list of unexpired government IDs (an Ohio driver license or state ID card, a U.S. passport or passport card, or a military, Ohio National Guard or Veterans Affairs card), and the legislature could set up another way to confirm the identity of people who object on religious grounds to having their picture taken. People voting by mail or any other way would also need one of those IDs, unless state law lets them use a signature plus at least one other identifying number instead; the change would apply right away if voters approve it.

Passes with: simple majority of votes cast on the issue (the ballot reads: "A majority yes vote is required for the adoption of Section 5.").

Official ballot summary (the state’s text)

Proposed Constitutional Amendment TO REQUIRE VOTERS TO PRESENT PHOTO IDENTIFICATION IN ORDER TO VOTE Proposed by Joint Resolution of the General Assembly To enact Section 5 of Article V of the Constitution of the State of Ohio A majority yes vote is required for the adoption of Section 5. This proposed amendment would: • Require voters to present an approved form of government-issued photo identification in order to vote. • Allow state law to provide for an alternative method of verifying a voter’s identity for a voter who has a sincere religious objection to being photographed and, therefore, does not possess an approved form of government-issued photo identification. • Require that voters who do not vote in person provide an approved form of government-issued photo identification, unless the law authorizes those persons to vote by providing a signature and at least one other specified unique identifier. • Define approved forms of government-issued photo identification as an unexpired Ohio driver license or state identification card; a United States passport or passport card; or a United States military identification card, Ohio National Guard identification card, or United States Department of Veterans Affairs identification card. If approved, the amendment shall take effect immediately. A "YES" vote means approval of the amendment. A "NO" vote means disapproval of the amendment. SHALL THE AMENDMENT BE APPROVED? YES NO

Committees for and against: not yet checked.

Sources: Lake County Board of Elections, Issue 3 Information (reprint of the Secretary of State's Issue 3 report: ballot language, explanation, arguments; saved: raw/lake-boe-issue3-full-information-2026-10-19.pdf); Full text.

What is not here yet

ohiosos.gov returned HTTP 403 to this workspace; the Secretary of State's Issue 3 report, certified ballot language, certified explanation and Ballot Board page were read with WebFetch and not saved. The verbatim text here comes from saved county reprints instead: the ballot language is identical in all four (Lake, Warren, Cuyahoga, Delaware); the explanation is in the Lake reprint only.

Campaign committees for or against Issue 3: not yet checked. The Secretary of State's campaign finance search (on ohiosos.gov) could not be reached from this workspace.

Court challenges: no Ohio Supreme Court case on the Issue 3 ballot language was found in searches of supremecourt.ohio.gov and courtnewsohio.gov on Oct. 19, 2026; the court's online docket itself was not searched by party name, so 'challenges' is empty as found, not confirmed.

The Secretary of State's copy of S.J.R. 10 (ohiosos.gov/assets/136-sjr-010.pdf) has no readable text layer through WebFetch; full_text_url points instead to the General Assembly's enrolled text, saved in raw/. The Secretary of State's own argument PDFs were not opened; the arguments' authors are taken from the Lake reprint.

A proposed initiated constitutional amendment to prohibit data center construction was cleared for circulation in spring 2026 (Attorney General certification Mar. 26, 2026; Ballot Board letter Apr. 2, 2026, per the Ballot Board page). The Youngstown Vindicator reported on June 22, 2026 that its sponsor, Conserve Ohio, had about 76,600 of the roughly 413,000 valid signatures needed by the July 1 deadline and would aim for 2027 instead (reported: https://www.vindy.com/news/local-news/2026/06/voter-issue-on-banning-data-centers-in-ohio-falls-short-of-signatures-for-this-fall/; not checked against a state record).

The Ballot Board page lists no referendum for this election; a second prospective referendum on portions of Am. Sub. S.B. 56 had initial petitions in early 2026 (Directive 2026-03); its outcome was not yet checked beyond the Ballot Board page.

Gaps in the ballot records as of the date checked.