Ohio Constitution Passes 60,000 Word Threshold

With the approval by Ohio voters of the Reproductive Rights (formally titled “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety”) Amendment on November 7, 2023, see Ohio Const. Art. I, sec. 22, Ohio crossed a significant threshold and now has more than 60,100 words in its oft-amended constitution, the 1851 Ohio Constitution. 

According to the most recently issued edition of the Book of the States, the number of words in the Ohio Constitution prior to the November 2023 election was 59,911, which made the Ohio Constitution the ninth longest state constitution in the nation. See General Information on State Constitutions, Book of the States (Table 1.3) (vol. 55) (through January 1, 2023) (forthcoming).The new amendment will likely result in Ohio continuing to have the ninth longest state constitution. 

Ohio currently operates under the 1851 Ohio Constitution, which the voters have amended 173 times since its adoption. In this period, the number of Articles has grown from sixteen to nineteen, and the number of sections has increased from 169 to more than 225.

The Ohio Constitution is the seventh oldest in the nation and the second oldest outside New England. States. The states with older constitutions include: Massachusetts (1780). New Hampshire (1784), Vermont (1793), Maine (1819), Rhode Island (1842)** and Wisconsin (1848). 

**        Rhode Island extensively amended its 1842 Constitution in 1986 with voters approving 8 of 14 proposed amendments. Although Rhode Island voters were not presented with an up or down vote on a new constitution, Rhode Island treats the state as having adopted a new constitution in 1986. See Steven H. Steinglass, Constitutional Revision: Ohio Style, 77 Ohio State L.J. 282, 333 n. 353 (2016).

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