Overview

• Republican majority on the Ohio Ballot Board approved a 3-2 party-line vote splitting the citizen-led Equal Rights Amendment into separate repeal and anti-discrimination measures.
• One measure targets repeal of the dormant 2004 same-sex marriage ban while the other would add broad protections for more than a dozen groups, including transgender Ohioans.
• Campaigners must now submit individual titles to the Attorney General and gather roughly 443,000 valid signatures for each amendment to qualify for the November 2026 ballot.
• Backers are weighing lawsuits to challenge the board’s decision as the split effectively doubles the workload and costs of their grassroots signature drive.
• Ohio’s government remains under Republican supermajority control in all branches, underscoring the political backdrop for the board’s ruling.