Special to The Truth
Voting rights advocates cheered a decision of the Ohio Ballot Board that advances a proposal that will allow Ohioans to vote on who should draw statehouse and congressional district maps – ordinary voters or politicians.
Yesterday, October 12, the Ohio Ballot Board voted unanimously to allow the Citizens Not Politicians (https://citizensnotpoliticians.org/) constitutional amendment proposal that allows citizens to draw legislative maps to appear as a single issue on the ballot—rather than dividing it into two issues. If the issue were divided, Ohioans would have been forced to gather double the number of petition signatures, making it unlikely it would have appeared on the ballot.
The Equal Districts coalition released the following statement:
“In a democracy, power rests with the people,” said Molly Shack and Prentiss Haney, Co-Executive Directors of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. “But too often, politicians attempt to take power away from ordinary voters or subvert the will of the communities they should be serving. This decision will give voters a fair chance to vote on whether people and not politicians should draw legislative maps.”
“The current redistricting system is broken and politicians can not be trusted with drawing unbiased maps. By taking this issue directly to the people, Ohio voters will be able to remove politicians from the process altogether. Bringing us a clear path towards fair districts.” said Desiree Tims, President/CEO of Innovation Ohio. “Volunteers across Ohio are fired up and ready to hit the pavement to ensure voters understand their rights and are prepared to participate in the redistricting process in 2024.”
To place the issue on the ballot, Citizens Not Politicians (https://citizensnotpoliticians.org/) must collect 413,487 signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties by July 3, 2024.