In the end, it wasn't even close. Yesterday, Ohio voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have taken away their own rights. In this particular case, it wasn't directly about abortion rights, instead it was the right of a majority of voters in the state to amend the state's constitution. Republicans wanted to raise the threshold from a simple majority to a supermajority of 60 percent. The voters voted "No" on the issue by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent -- a pretty resounding 14-point rejection.

But of course this wasn't just about some arcane governmental rules. It was a stalking horse for another Ohio ballot initiative, one which will appear on this November's ballot. And that one is about abortion. If yesterday's vote had been successful (if the proposal had passed), then the abortion amendment would have had to get at least 60 percent of the vote to pass. It is currently polling in the high 50s -- which was the entire point of the exercise.

The November referendum, if it passes, will enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution. This will mean two things: the state-level politicians and the state courts will essentially be removed from the process of making abortion laws; and, secondly, the only way to change this in the future would be through another ballot referendum which either overturned or otherwise changed the new amendment. Just like on the national level, when something is part of the constitution (federal or state), the legislature can't pass unconstitutional laws which contradict it. Well, they can try, but then the judges can then toss such laws out (since judges are bound to follow the constitution and interpret whether laws are allowable or not, but have no power to change the constitution's text at all). And no vote in the legislature can overturn a constitutional amendment -- to change that, another constitutional amendment is necessary (see, for reference: Prohibition).

From yesterday's vote, it seems all but certain that the proposed Ohio abortion-rights amendment is going to sail through in November. Which will be another big loss for the forced-birth side of the issue. Anti-abortion Republicans now have a perfect record on all post-Dobbs state initiatives dealing with abortion: they have lost every single time. Democrats and others who care about personal freedoms have won every vote that has happened to date -- including in red states such as Kansas and Kentucky. And now Ohio, too (which is a little more purple than red, but still pretty dominated by the Republican Party at the state level).

But the pro-choice side isn't resting on their laurels. They're already eyeing Arizona for their next push to get a measure on the ballot (for next year -- right in the midst of the presidential campaign). Abortion is working very effectively as a political wedge issue for Democrats, in much the same way that anti-gay-marriage initiatives worked for Republicans for over a decade: they enthuse the base, they divide the opposition, and they usually are sure-fire winners.

In addition, in Missouri an abortion-rights ballot initiative is already in the works, although the forced-birth forces are fighting tooth and nail to keep it off the ballot. But the state supreme court has already ruled once to force the initiative process to move forward, so there's a good chance it will qualify for next year's election.

What other states might also move next? If you take a look at the overlap between which states allow for ballot initiatives to change the states' constitutions (only about half of the states allow for any kind of ballot initiatives at all), and which states have restrictive abortion laws on the books, you come up with six other possible states (not counting Arizona or Missouri): Arkansas, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. Mississippi used to allow such referenda, but the state supreme court invalidated the law and so far the legislature has not been able to agree on language to reinstate it (one version would have allowed constitutional amendments to appear on ballots only if they didn't deal with abortion rights). Of course, all of these states have varied electorates, so an abortion-rights ballot initiative in, say, Oklahoma might actually fail. But there are several in there who might be good candidates for such direct democracy. Support for legal abortion already polls above 50 percent in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, and North Dakota. All could be good candidates for referenda on next year's ballot. Especially Florida, where Democrats could use a robust turnout at the polls in 2024.

If you look at the chart in that last link, you can see that abortion rights poll above 50 percent in all but seven states. To put this another way, in 43 states abortion is a losing issue for Republicans. So far, they haven't seemed to fully realize this yet. And sooner or later Democrats will run out of states to put abortion rights directly on the ballot. But until then, this is bound to wind up being a losing issue for Republicans, over and over again. As Ohio just proved, once again.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant