Today, a big step was taken to rid Ohio of gerrymandered maps and districts! It took four U-Haul trucks to submit 810 boxes with 731,306 signatures from all of Ohio’s 88 counties! The next step is for the petition booklets to be sent from the Secretary of State to each of the county boards of elections for signatures to be verified. At least 413,487 of those signatures need to be valid, 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties need to be represented by at least 5% of its registered voters, in order to put this issue on the November 5th General Election ballot. The question would need to win a simple majority in November in order to be adopted into the state constitution.
During a rally celebrating the submission of the signatures on Monday, retired Republican Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor told a crowd of hundreds in the Statehouse atrium that the initiative received the third highest signature total the state has seen in more than a century. She said it was “one of the most widely supported citizen-initiated constitutional amendments in Ohio’s history.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, let me let you in on a little secret,”
O’Connor told supporters who attended the rally.
“This amendment will pass. We will prevail.”
The Citizens Not Politicians Amendment will:
1. Create the 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission
made up of Democratic, Republican, and Independent citizens
who broadly represent the different geographic areas and of the state.
2. Ban current or former politicians, political party officials
and lobbyists from sitting on the Commission.
3. Require fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional
to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor
any political party or individual politician.
4. Require the commission to operate under an
open and independent process.
As soon as this issue is confirmed to be on the ballot,
more information will be posted.
For more information about this issue,
please visit:
Citizens Not Politicians
ARTICLES:
- 7.02.2024 – Ohio redistricting reform group submits more than 731,000 signatures, sets sights on November | Susan Tebben | Ohio Capital Journal
- 7.02.2024 – Commentary: Ohio’s reasonable, rational voters have been abandoned by extremist gerrymandered lawmakers | Marilou Johanek | Ohio Capital Journal