Ohio 2026 Voter ID Amendment

The only statewide ballot issue on Ohio's November 3, 2026 ballot: a constitutional amendment (Senate Joint Resolution 10) that would write the state's existing photo-ID requirement for in-person voting into the Ohio Constitution. It is widely expected to be numbered State Issue 3, though the Ohio Ballot Board had not certified the number as of ingest.

What it does

• Constitutionalizes a rule that is already law. Ohio has required photo ID for in-person voting since HB 458 (2023); the amendment locks it in so a future legislature cannot repeal it.
• Adds an absentee clause: mail voters would provide a photo ID or a signature plus one other authorized identifier — with specifics left to the legislature.
• Accepted IDs (unexpired only; no digital/phone IDs): Ohio driver's license or state ID, U.S. passport or passport card, U.S. military or Ohio National Guard ID, or a VA ID.
• Passes on a simple majority. As a joint resolution it went straight to voters — Senate 22–9 (June 3), House 61–27 (June 10), party-line, no governor's signature required.

Not the same as HB 472

A separate bill, HB 472, would have required photo ID for mail voting starting in 2027. It passed both chambers but Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed it (June 25, 2026), and no override has occurred — so mail-in photo ID is not in effect. Keep the amendment (in-person, on the ballot) and HB 472 (mail, vetoed) distinct.

The fight

• Supporters (sponsors Sens. Timken and Gavarone) frame it as "election integrity" and a guard against any future rollback of the ID rule.
• Opponents — the ACLU of Ohio, Common Cause Ohio, and House Democrats — call it redundant "ballot candy": since photo ID is already law, the practical effect is turnout messaging, not a change to how anyone votes this year. See Voting Rights in Ohio and Election Administration in Ohio.

What is not on the 2026 ballot

Several citizen initiatives fell short of the November ballot: property-tax abolition (deferred to 2027), data-center restrictions (failed to qualify), and — by a strategic choice to wait for 2027, not a signature shortfall — a repeal of the 2004 same-sex-marriage ban and an LGBTQ nondiscrimination amendment. A police qualified-immunity repeal also did not make it.

Why it matters

Part of the Ohio 2026 Elections slate. For a pro-democracy reference the honest question is who gains or loses access: this measure changes nothing about how Ohioans vote in 2026 — it entrenches an existing rule — while the live access fights run through the SoS office and the courts (see Voting Rights in Ohio).