Ohio's Senate Bill 5 - Today's the Day They Vote In Ohio

What is widely expected to be a referendum that will be a significant indicator for the 2012 elections, in Ohio they are voting on Senate Bill 5 (read the text here), relating to the rights of people to engage in collective bargaining -- in other words, unions.  The Republicans in the legislature along with the governor, stripped those rights away, along partisan lines.  Today, Issue 2 on the ballot (read the text here) could reverse that legislation, repealing it.  If that happens, it is predicted that the gains made by the right in 2010 are likely to largely be reversed in 2012.

Ahead of the November 2012 elections, it could also be prophetic for the direction that recall next door in Wisconsin of Governor Walker.

One of my favorite sites, non partisan and factual, for following these elections and issues is of course Ballotnews, featured on our blog roll.  Check them often; they are an excellent way to stay factually informed in a quick and easy and effective way.

While no election or referendum is over until the last voter casts their vote, and given that there have been numerous upsets and surprises in history, the following graph from the Ballotnews coverage of this issue strongly suggests that when it comes to Issue 2, repeal is more likely than it continuing:

Polls

The following is a line graph of poll results taken since April 2011. The graph represents five polls taken throughout the course of the year. All polls represented in the graph asked whether or not voters supported or opposed Senate Bill 5. The average number of those surveyed from all polls was 1,454 registered voters. The average margin of error among those polls was +/- 2.6 percentage points.^[1]

I look forward to seeing who is, in effect, going to be given a thumbs up or a thumbs down on this key issue.  Watch this space for the Ballotnews updates as we get closer to the voting results being announced, complete with results analysis of what happened to union busting today in Ohio.