Ohioans will “overwhelmingly” approve ballot measures to protect reproductive and abortion rights and legalize marijuana, Shumaker Advisors Senior Vice President Derrick Clay told Hannah News on Monday.

“People are just tired of the government telling them how to utilize their bodies,” said Clay, who has held various leadership roles in Ohio Democratic politics over the last few decades. “People do not want restrictions when it comes to their bodies. It’s just one of those things. This campaign is about rights and choices.”

Election Day voters will head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7 to make their voices heard on reproductive and abortion rights constitutional amendment Issue 1 and adult use marijuana legalization initiated statute Issue 2.

“I think both of them are going to pass convincingly,” Clay said. “I’m not going to say it will be as much as 60-40 -- that might be a little too much. But I definitely think that it’s going to be … between 55 and 60.”

Clay said he expects voter turnout will be higher than usual for odd-year elections.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of younger voters come out in this election, and the reason for that is the marijuana issue is going to drive a lot of those voters out,” Clay said. “At the same time, those same types of voters are being lured in by Issue 1 just because of the severity of what it could do if it’s not passed.”

He said it’s not surprising that early voting is also higher than average this cycle.

“Early voting is continuously going to get more popular as we go on, just because people don’t want to stand in line. They don’t want the hassle of trying to get up early before work or trying to leave at lunchtime or going after work to try to vote. They want to do it at their leisure, and if they can do it in a way that’s convenient to their schedule, they’re going to pick that all day long,” Clay said. “Think about everything else in our lives. Everything else is convenient. Companies make things convenient for people. Why shouldn’t our election process be the same? Folks are busy. People have responsibilities. If you want more people to participate in the civic duty of voting, you have to make it more convenient for them.”

Clay said turnout will be higher in both rural and urban areas.

“Issue 1 is a very polarizing issue. It’s going to draw people that are for the issue, and it’s going to draw people that are against the issue. You’re probably going to see an uptick in the more rural voters because that’s where you tend to see pro-life folks. In the urban areas, I think because we have a marijuana issue on that ballot, that’s going to drive the turnout in the urban areas. I think those two combined, and there will be some overlap in how folks feel about Issue 1 or 2, but I think it’s going to have elevated voter turnout in both rural and urban areas,” he said.

Clay said Issue 1 has a more clear partisan divide than Issue 2, with the majority of Democrats being for abortion rights and the majority of Republicans being anti-abortion.

“Issue 2 -- you’re going to get mostly Democrats coming out to vote for that, but there’s a lot of folks that don’t necessarily want you to know that they participate in cannabis, but they do it all the time,” Clay said. “People in conservative areas -- they smoke and chew gummies too. There’s a reason that the issue is so popular in the state.”