September 14, 2026
Restrictions Locked In: What Issue 3 Would Mean for Ohio Voters
Clean water, healthy air, and protected public lands depend on real representation for Ohioans most exposed to pollution and environmental injustice. That’s why the Ohio Environmental Council pays attention to how Ohioans vote, not just what’s on the ballot. When eligible voters are left out, we can’t achieve the representative government that environmental justice requires.
This November, Ohioans will decide on what will likely be “State Issue 3” (1), a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would permanently lock in the requirement to provide photo identification to vote.
Ohio has required photo ID at the polls since April 2023. (2) Issue 3 does not change that. It takes the law we already have and writes it directly into the Ohio Constitution, where later changes become far more difficult. That permanence is the point, and the problem.
Issue 3 locks in a closed, fixed list of acceptable IDs. (3) an Ohio driver’s license or state ID, a U.S. passport, or a military or veterans ID. A student ID does not count. Neither would any better method a future legislature might want to add, from an expanded list of photo identification methods to more accurate biometric verification. Once it’s in the Constitution, the only way to change that list is another statewide vote.
Additionally, current law guarantees any Ohioan a free state ID card—a safeguard against turning an ID into an effective poll tax. Issue 3 locks in the requirement to present the ID, but omits the free-ID guarantee. As a result, a future legislature could choose to scrap the no-cost ID guarantee, putting a price tag on your ballot.
We know who pays the price for voter suppression. In 2024, 7,053 provisional ballots were set aside in Ohio because a voter could not provide the required ID. (4) In-person impersonation, the fraud photo ID is meant to stop, is vanishingly rare: researchers found 31 credible cases out of more than a billion ballots cast nationwide over 14 years. (5)
The OEC Action Fund opposed Issue 3 in committee this June, testifying against the closed ID list, the missing free-ID guarantee, and the rush to write a statute into the Constitution with minimal public input.
One thing to be clear on: nothing about how you vote this November is changing. However, if Issue 3 passes, it will take immediate effect. It would put this inflexible policy into our Constitution—a document meant to protect the rights of Ohioans from government overreach, not add new hurdles to exercise those rights.
State Issue 3 is coming to your ballot this November. Learn the facts before November 3, and make sure your voice is heard.
Citations
1 Fortney, J. (2026, June 4). Senate approves constitutional amendment requiring photo ID in Ohio elections. Senate. https://ohiosenate.gov/news/on-the-record/senate-approves-constitutional-amendment-requiring-photo-id-in-ohio-elections
2 Donaldson, S. (2026, June 4). Ohio Senate advances its fast-tracked voter ID Amendment. The Statehouse News Bureau. https://www.statenews.org/government-politics/2026-06-03ohio-senate-advances-its-fast-tracked-voter-id-amendment
3 Sagdal, B. (2026, June 4). Senate passes landmark voter ID amendment to be added to the ballot. Ohio News. https://www.ohio.news/stories/senate-passes-landmark-voter-idamendment-to-be-added-to-the-ballot/
4 Khan-Williamson, S. (2025, April 2). All voting is local Ohio Report reveals 34,000 ballots were rejected in the 2024 election. All Voting is Local. https://allvotingislocal.org/pressreleases/all-voting-is-local-ohio-report-reveals-34000-ballotswere-rejected-in-the-2024-election/
5 Resources on voter fraud claims. Brennan Center for Justice. (2017, June 26). https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/resources-voter-fraud-claims
