Citizens Not Politicians: Vote YES on Issue 1!

July 1, 2024

Once again, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) and the Republican majority on the Ohio Ballot Board have approved language for Issue 1 that is misleading to voters about the nature of the amendment, making it look like a change to promote gerrymandering when it’s actually a proposal to outlaw unfair practices in drawing up boundaries for political districts. CNP, the group responsible for the proposed amendment, and the ACLU agree the language is misleading and have filed a lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court, asking the court to order LaRose to correct the ballot language. The lawsuit describes LaRose’s current version as being “biased, inaccurate, deceptive and unconstitutional.” A decision from the court could come early next week.

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.

For more information about this issue,
please visit:
Citizens Not Politicians

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