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Abortion wasn't technically on the ballot in Ohio's special election. But the overwhelming defeat of a measure that would have made it tougher to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution this fall was the latest indicator that the issue remains a powerful force at the ballot box. The election saw heavy turnout for what's typically a sleepy summer election date and sets up another battle in November, when Ohio will be the only state this year to have reproductive rights on the ballot. It also gives hope to Democrats and other abortion rights supporters who say the matter could sway voters their way again in 2024. That's when it could affect races for president, Congress and statewide offices, and when places such as the battleground of Arizona may put abortion questions on their ballots as well. Democrats described the victory in Ohio, a one-time battleground state that has shifted markedly to the right, as a “major warning sign” for the GOP. “Republicans’ deeply unpopular war on women’s rights will cost them district after district, and we will remind voters of their toxic anti-abortion agenda every day until November,” said Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The measure voters rejected Tuesday, known as Issue 1, would have required ballot questions to pass with 60% of the vote rather than a simple majority. Interest was unusually high, with millions spent on each side and voters casting more than double the number of early in-person and mail ballots ahead of the final day of voting as in a typical primary election. Early turnout was especially heavy in the Democratic-leaning counties surrounding Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Opposition to the measure, which became a kind of proxy for the November abortion vote, extended even into traditionally Republican areas. In early returns, support for the measure fell far short of Donald Trump’s performance during the 2020 election in nearly every county. The November ballot question will ask voters whether individuals should have the right to make their own reproductive health care decisions, including contraception, abortion, fertility treatment and miscarriage care. Ohio's GOP-led state government in 2019 approved a ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected — around six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant — but the ban was not enforced because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which granted a federal right to the procedure. When a new conservative majority on the high court last year overturned the nearly 50-year-old ruling, sending authority over the procedure back to the states, Ohio's ban briefly went into effect. But a state court put the ban on hold again while a challenge alleging it violates the state constitution plays out. During the time the ban was in place, an Indiana doctor came forward to say she had performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who could not legally have the procedure in her home state. The account became a national flashpoint in the debate over abortion rights and underscored the stakes in Ohio. Ohio is one of about half of U.S. states where citizens may bypass the Legislature and put ballot questions directly to voters, making it an option that supporters of reproductive rights have increasingly turned to since Roe v. Wade fell. After abortion rights supporters said they hoped to ask voters in November to enshrine the right in the state constitution, Ohio Republicans put Issue 1 on Tuesday’s ballot. In addition to raising the threshold to pass a measure, it would have required signatures to be collected in all 88 counties, rather than 44. The 60% threshold was no accident, abortion rights supporters say, and was aimed directly at defeating the Ohio abortion measure. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, six states have had elections regarding reproductive rights. In every election — including in conservative states like Kansas — voters have supported abortion rights. In Kansas, 59% voted to preserve abortion rights protections, while in Michigan 57% favored an amendment that put protections in the state constitution. Last year, 59% of Ohio voters said abortion should generally be legal, according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the electorate. Last month, a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found the majority of U.S. adults want abortion to be legal at least through the initial stages of pregnancy. The poll found that opinions on abortion remain complex, with most people believing abortion should be allowed in some circumstances and not in others. Opponents of the Ohio abortion question ran ads that suggested the measure could strip parents of their ability to make decisions about their child’s health care or to even be notified about it. Amy Natoce, spokesperson for the anti-abortion campaign Protect Women Ohio, called the ballot measure a “dangerous anti-parent amendment.” Several legal experts have said there is no language in the amendment supporting the ads’ claims. Peter Range, CEO of Ohio Right to Life, said he has been traveling across Ohio talking to people and “I’ve never seen the grassroots from the pro-life side more fired up to go and defend and protect the pre-born.” While the November question pertains strictly to Ohio, access to abortion there is pivotal to access across the Midwest, said Alison Dreith, director of strategic partnership for the abortion fund Midwest Access Coalition. Nine Midwestern states — Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin — are considered restrictive, very restrictive or most restrictive of abortion rights by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports legal access to abortion. “Ohio in particular has always been a destination state for the states around it,” Dreith said. “If we don’t protect abortion access in Ohio, the options just continue to shrink for people seeking care in the Midwest.” Sri Thakkilapati, the executive director of the Cleveland-based nonprofit abortion clinic Preterm, said the effect of the Ohio vote will reverberate throughout the country. “When we restrict access in one state, other states have to take up that patient load,” she said. “That leads to longer wait times, more travel, higher costs for patients." Thakkilapati called the energy around abortion rights in last year's midterms “exciting.” But she said the media attention died down, and people quickly forgot “how tenuous abortion access is right now.” The special election and ballot measure in Ohio are “a reminder of what’s at stake," Thakkilapati said. “Other states are watching how this plays out in Ohio, and it may give anti-abortion groups in other states another strategy to threaten abortion rights elsewhere,” she said. “And for the majority who do want abortion access in their states but are seeing it threatened, the results in November could give them hope that the democratic process may give them relief.” Kimberly Inez McGuire, the executive director of Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, which focuses on young people of color under age 30, says the results of elections involving reproductive rights show that support doesn't come just from Democrats or in cities and states considered liberal bastions. “There was this idea that we couldn’t win on abortion in red states and that idea has really been smashed,” McGuire said. So, too, she said, is the “mythology” that people in the South and Midwest won't support abortion rights. “I think 2024 is going to be huge,” she said. “And I think in many ways, Ohio is a proving ground, an early fight in the lead up to 2024.” Dreith said that since abortion hasn't been on a major ballot since last year, the Ohio vote this fall is “a good reminder” for the rest of the country. “Abortion is always on the ballot — if not literally but figuratively through the politicians we elect to serve us,” she said. "It’s also a reminder that this issue isn’t going away.” Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Why Ohio's Issue 1 proposal failed, and how the AP called the race Ohio voters reject GOP plan to thwart upcoming abortion rights proposal Abortion rights advocates push for 2024 ballot initiative in Arizona

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Two practice laps. That’s all it took for Sergio Perez to show – much to his own astonishment – how the Red Bull pendulum has swung ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. From a position of such strength three months ago off the back of two wins in four races, the Mexican’s spot at the runaway leaders in Formula 1 looks to be shrouded in more doubt as the weeks go on. On Friday, barely five minutes into first practice at the short and twisty Hungaroring in Budapest, Perez inexplicably clipped the grass and crashed heavily into the barrier at turn five. The shunt is a sign of the times. As much as everyone at Red Bull insist the 33-year-old will remain with the team until at least the end of his contract and the end of the 2024 season, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have shown they won’t wait. Patience is not a virtue adhered to at Red Bull. First, there’s been Perez’s own bad form. Since qualifying on pole in Miami at the start of May, he has not made the final qualifying session in five attempts; three of those have been an overwhelmingly poor Q1 elimination. Whilst the Mexican is second in the world championship, he is 99 points behind Max Verstappen in the same machinery. Results in comparison to your team-mate remain the ultimate barometer in F1 and right now, Perez is woefully short of pace and consistency. And second, here comes Daniel RIcciardo. The Australian, so forlorn of confidence in his final year at McLaren in 2022, is back in the sport having replaced Nyck de Vries at Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri. More significantly, the looks a figure completely rejuvenated for his eight months off. Having told The Independent that race wins and a world championship remains his ultimate goal, the popular Australian did not wilt when asked if a Red Bull seat – perhaps as soon as 2024, more likely in 2025 – was the long-term target. “It’s kind of another chance to make things better,” Ricciardo said in Budapest. “I think that’s why I was excited to get back behind the wheel and just kind of show my true self. Even the thought of that excites me. “Obviously the dream is a Red Bull seat. Of course that was my wish, but you need to be realistic, and if I want to get back into Red Bull it will be a process, and this is the best path for me at the moment.” That path starts with beating AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in the remaining 12 races this season, in what is distinguishably the worst car on the grid. In his first running in 2023, Ricciardo was 14th in second practice on Friday, while FP1 earlier in the day was foiled by a few red flags and variable weather, rendering it largely irrelevant in terms of action. As for Perez, he was only 18th-fastest in second practice, ahead of an alternative qualifying format on Saturday where each of the three sessions will require a different tyre. Charles Leclerc was fastest for Ferrari, with Lando Norris second for McLaren and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in third. Max Verstappen could only manage 11th in a session which was difficult to read, though Mercedes really struggled – Lewis Hamilton was only 16th on the leaderboard and last year’s pole-sitter George Russell was dead last. A tough day to decipher. Expect Verstappen’s usual season dominance to return over the weekend, especially with a package which should improve the RB19’s already imperious aerodynamic performance. One element which was not hard to read, though, was Perez’s current anxiety in the cockpit. And a need to reverse his damaging slide, for his own sake, as soon as possible. Read More Daniel Ricciardo is back - and this time he wants to go out on top Sergio Perez crashes out of practice in more woe for Red Bull driver Lewis Hamilton reacts to Nyck de Vries axing: ‘That’s how Red Bull work’ F1 Hungarian Grand Prix LIVE: Practice updates and FP2 results as Ricciardo returns What time is qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday? F1 2023 race schedule: When is the Hungarian Grand Prix?

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