Ohio voters will decide the fate of the current minimum wage, smoking in bars and a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase the number of slot machines in the state.

Minimum wage

Issue 2, one of four issues on the November ballot, would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 an hour. The constitutional amendment, supported by Ohioans for a Fair Minimum Wage, a coalition of labor organizations, would mark the first minimum wage increase in 10 years.

“Raising the minimum wage will give low-wage workers an opportunity to provide for themselves and their families,” said Keary McCarthy, a spokesman for the group. The amendment also requires inflationary hikes in the minimum wage each year the cost of living in Ohio rises.

The issue’s opponents, Ohioans to Protect Personal Privacy, have raised concerns about the amendment’s record-keeping requirements. Under the proposal, employers must keep records, which are available to any third party, that include employees’ addresses, pay rates, hours and other privacy-related information, said John McGough, a Personal Privacy spokesman.

Slot money for education

Ohio Learn and Earn, Issue 3 on the ballot, is a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow up to 31,500 slot machines in the state at nine sites. Thirty percent of the slot machine revenue would go toward funding higher education scholarships and grants. By 2012, the group estimates that $852 million of a total $2.8 billion will be distributed annually to students graduating high school.

“Every student in Ohio will have the opportunity to go to school with significant tuition grants,” said Michael Caputo, a spokesman for Ohio Learn and Earn. “For the first time in Ohio, students of lower, middle and upper class will be looked at on a level playing field.”

The Vote No Casinos Committee, the primary opponent of Issue 3, argues that Issue 3 does not mandate when the scholarship funding will begin and that the additional slot machines will create a gambling problem, said Rob Walgate, spokesman for the committee.

“I don’t think there is any question it will create additional compulsive gamblers,” Walgate said. “That’s not healthy for the state.”

Other issues

Issues 4 and 5, two proposed smoking bans, have sparked debate across the state. Issue 4 would ban smoking in 90 percent of Ohio businesses, excluding bars and other adult establishments. The issue is backed by Smoke Less Ohio, a coalition of Ohio business owners.

SmokeFreeOhio, a coalition of health care organizations, supports Issue 5, a stricter ban that would outlaw smoking in all enclosed buinesses in Ohio.

Issue 1, which was aimed at making changes to Ohio’s Workers’ Compensation Law, was knocked off the ballot earlier this month by the Ohio Supreme Court. Supporters of the referendum failed to collect enough valid signatures to keep the issue on the ballot, Ohio secretary of state spokesman Chris Abbruzzese said.