STEUBENVILLE — A panel of supporters gave a spirited push for Ohioans to vote “yes” on Issue 1 in the Nov. 5 election, during a rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 246 Thursday. Constituents of the five-person panel, composed mostly of local labor leaders, outlined reasons they believe the passage of Issue 1 would create a fair Congressional redistricting process and secure fair elections … Read more

In November, Ohioans have the chance to make their voices heard in redistricting plans for the state – currently a privilege given solely to elected officials. Issue 1, led by Citizens Not Politicians, aims to establish a non-governmental commission to draw state legislative and congressional districts.  An affirmative vote on Issue 1 will help to ensure fairness in line drawing, promote districts that represent the state … Read more

Less division and fear, more reason to trust               We expect that some of you share our concerns about the harm resulting when an increasing number of politicians serve their own ambitions by lying — especially when they lie to elevate fear, anger, and divisiveness. We hope that you will join us in prioritizing these concerns when you vote. … Read more

The concept of one person/one vote is basic to our democracy. Whether you live on East 55th or West 65th — Eastlake or Westlake, your vote should have the power to elect a person to Congress or the state legislature that reflects your voice or the voice of your community. But that is not always the case. Legislators who draw the boundaries for congressional and legislative districts … Read more

The heads of prominent civil rights and anti-discrimination groups, along with faith-based groups, have joined a list of supporters of Ohio Issue 1, which would reform the redistricting process by replacing politicians with citizen commissioners. The Ohio Organizing Collaborative released an open letter signed by more than 60 “Black faith leaders” of churches and religious groups from across the state, saying the leaders felt “compelled to address … Read more

Ohio only has one state-wide issue on the ballot this November, and supporters across Toledo are encouraging residents to vote for it. At a community town hall in Sylvania, members from the Democratic, Republican, independent, Green, and Libertarian parties gathered at Olander Park to share why they were voting “yes” on Ohio’s Issue 1. A yes vote supports the creation of a 15-member independent citizen … Read more

“Restore power to where it belongs—with citizens, not politicians. Vote Yes on Issue 1”   COLUMBUS – A new ‘Yes on Issue 1’ ad launched today has this simple message: Take it from the lifelong Republican and recently retired 20-year jurist on the Ohio Supreme Court: Voting Yes on 1 will end gerrymandering by getting the lawless politicians out of the map-drawing process and putting … Read more

Members of marginalized communities sometimes remind advocates, “Nothing for us without us.” This is the refrain I’d like to share with those who question the merits of the Citizens Not Politicians ballot measure. If you are not a member of a marginalized community, you shouldn’t tell those who are what is and isn’t racist. You should take their lead in determining what is and is … Read more

When voters go to the polls and tell lawmakers they want something, they don’t automatically get it without a fight. We’ve seen that in two cases lately. Ohio has tried to put up roadblocks to weaken the reproductive rights amendment that passed last year with nearly 57% of the vote. The Franklin County Common Pleas Court blocked state requirements that included a 24-hour waiting period … Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Among state supreme courts, the Ohio Supreme Court ranks somewhere between undistinguished and disreputable. The court is uninterested in judicial scholarship, indifferent to precedent and lustful for partisanship. Those traits were on parade earlier this month, when majority Republicans, in a 4-3 power play, effectively decreed the Ohio Ballot Board is free to mislead voters and has no obligation to be impartial. … Read more

CLEVELAND, Ohio – There’s good news and bad news, and then, there’s putrid news. The bad news is we must put up with Frank LaRose, the saddest excuse of a Secretary of State ever, for another two years. The good news is, if he screws up enough, he’ll either disqualify himself for reelection, or our reluctantly red state may actually realize we deserve better and … Read more

Supporters of a redistricting amendment to the Ohio constitution gathered together Thursday to hear more about the effort that would make Ohio citizens, instead of politicians, the decision makers when it comes to drawing state legislative and congressional districts. A small crowd came together at a meeting held by We Are Ohio – which according to its Facebook page is a coalition of unions – … Read more

The legacy of Elbridge Gerry is alive and well and thriving in Ohio. Gerry, as many students of history will remember, served as governor of Massachusetts and vice president of the U.S. in the early 19th century. He signed a bill as governor in 1812 that redistricted a Boston-area state Senate district into a strange, contorted shape resembling a salamander to preserve and strengthen the … Read more

Ohio is among the top 10 states where gerrymandering runs rampant. Now, a chorus of Black Faith leaders are uniting and urging Ohioans to vote yes on Issue 1, which will end gerrymandering by empowering citizens, instead of politicians, to draw fair legislative maps in an open and transparent process. More than sixty Black faith leaders released an open letter urging Ohioans to vote YES … Read more

On Election Day, former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor drove the length of the sprawling 200-mile district, which Republicans drew two years ago to dilute the influence of Democratic voters and boost their own power. Crisscrossing 11 counties and four media markets, she started at the fairgrounds in rural Marietta, on the West Virginia border; followed the Ohio River through the foothills of the … Read more

‘Politicians want to shut us down and keep power out of our hands’ In a show of unity in the face of lies by Ohio’s politicians, power brokers, and political insiders, some of the most prominent civil rights leaders in Ohio issued statements of support and appeared in a new ad calling on all Ohioans to vote yes on Issue 1 to end gerrymandering. Issue … Read more

O’Connor Urges Voter Mobilization in Fiery AFL-CIO Address   ‘Mobilize to defeat the lies,’ retired Chief Justice says in rallying support for Issue 1 to end gerrymandering CLEVELAND – Voting Yes on Issue 1 will not only end gerrymandering in Ohio, but will once again let politicians know that Ohioans don’t trust them and that Ohioans know what is best for Ohioans. And they know … Read more

Yes on Issue 1 coalition begins aggressive statewide broadcast advertising campaign that will reach millions of Ohioans  COLUMBUS, Ohio – Yes on Issue 1 – the grassroots nonpartisan uprising against shady, cheating politicians – launched a $20 million broadcast blitz today with a campaign advertisement speaking directly to the Buckeye State’s diverse citizenry, underscoring that conservative, progressive and independent Ohioans all agree on one thing: … Read more

The Supreme Court’s 4-3 vote of approval for the disingenuous wording of the ballot description of the Issue 1 preserves Ballot Board language that was clearly intended to discourage voters from approving Issue 1. The Supreme Court’s excuse is that its job was not to wordsmith the ballot board but to correct any blatant inaccurate statement. The Ballot Board language was not the language the … Read more

COLUMBUS, OH—Today, Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) President Rep. Terrence Upchurch (D-Cleveland) issued the following statement: The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) stands firm in its endorsement of Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians initiative, despite concerns about the final language that will appear on November ballots. Issue 1 seeks to replace the current politician-led redistricting system with a 15-member citizen commission, ensuring transparency and … Read more

Ohio elections are coming up, and Issue 1 is on the ballot, giving Ohioans a chance to weigh in on potential redistricting reform. We caught up with Citizens Not Politicians, the organizers behind Issue 1, to hear more about it. First, when, where and how do I vote in the November election? We’ve got a guide for that! Here are all the voting deadline details you need … Read more

The Los Angeles Chargers and their cheating coach Jim Harbaugh play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. The team Harbaugh cheated for, the Michigan Wolverines, already have one loss and are playing under a four-year NCAA show-cause order as they face USC on Saturday. Ohio State fans watching these games to root against the Chargers and That Team Up North may see a new “Yes on … Read more

The Ohio Supreme Court let stand late Monday ballot language that will describe this fall’s Issue 1 as requiring gerrymandering, when the proposal is intended to do the opposite. In a 4-3 ruling, the high court ordered two of eight disputed sections of the ballot description rewritten, while upholding the other six the issue’s backers had contested. The court’s three Democratic justices dissented. The ballot … Read more

In the 2010s, Ohio voters approved constitutional amendments that aimed to curb partisan gerrymandering primarily by requiring parties’ legislative seats to be roughly proportional to their statewide votes. This strategy has now come to be seen as a failure because it didn’t include structural reform — i.e., it didn’t transfer mapmaking authority from self-interested politicians to an independent commission. In 2022, politicians repeatedly enacted plans … Read more

In November, Ohio residents will have an opportunity to vote on Issue 1, a constitutional amendment that would finally abolish the state’s extreme partisan gerrymandering. Voters will not, however, be informed of this fact on the ballot. Instead, the Ohio Supreme Court’s Republican majority ruled Monday that the amendment will be described in egregiously misleading terms on the ballot itself, with ultra-biased language designed to turn citizens … Read more

The nonpartisan Citizens Not Politicians campaign to end gerrymandering in Ohio issued the following statement in response to the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision involving the ballot language for Issue: While we disagree with much of the decision, we agree with the court’s repudiation of the politicians on the Ballot Board for violating the Ohio Constitution and writing language that was “inaccurate,” “defective,” and amounted to … Read more

Republicans on the Ohio Supreme Court ordered a few changes to GOP-crafted ballot language for the Issue 1 redistricting amendment. But they were largely OK with wording that the amendment’s backers called deceptive and wrong. Ohioans will vote this fall on a proposed constitutional amendment to remove politicians from drawing congressional and statehouse maps and replace them with a 15-member citizen commission. In August, Republicans … Read more

Do you want to stop gerrymandering in Ohio? It’s a question that backers of Ohio Issue 1 want voters to answer with an enthusiastic “yes” on their constitutional amendment this fall. Meanwhile, opponents say the question was already answered when voters overwhelmingly approved anti-gerrymandering rules in 2015 and 2018. For the average Ohioan, gerrymandering can sound more like a rare amphibian than a political process … Read more

It is a well-known fact that Ohio is a heavily gerrymandered state, and recent research by the Brennan Center for Justice reveals that approximately 77% of Ohioans, or more than 9 million people, live in Ohio House districts that will have no meaningful competition in legislative races this November. Ohioans are facing this watered-down version of democracy because our electoral districts are drawn by politicians, … Read more

Retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor will speak about Issue 1 and the fight against gerrymandering at The College of Wooster on Tuesday. O’Connor’s appearance, presented by the League of Women Voters and titled Citizens not Politicians, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Gault Recital Hall, Scheide Music Center, 525 E. University St. It is open to the public and free … Read more

The first issue on this November’s ballot differs slightly from what Ohioans saw in 2023. Instead of reproductive rights, redistricting practices sit at the top of this year’s ballot.  Issue 1, a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution, seeks to end gerrymandering in Ohio by replacing the politicians on the current redistricting commission with a 15-person, citizen-led commission in both congressional and state legislative redistricting … Read more

Are we the frogs in the boiling frog metaphor? Just asking. You remember the tale, right? The frogs are sitting in a pot of water that’s gradually getting hotter. But they’re only slightly uncomfortable with the rising temperatures and don’t react until it’s too late. They keep adjusting to the heat (normalizing it?) even as they’re boiled alive. Are we making similar adjustments to the … Read more

The effort to end gerrymandering had a voice in Bowling Green on Monday. The Citizens Not Politicians coalition met at the senior center to share information about its efforts to empower Ohio citizens to draw fair and impartial legislative and congressional districts through an open an independent process. Citizens Not Politicians is a coalition of people and organizations seeking to end gerrymandering in Ohio by … Read more

When Katie Paris started Red Wine & Blue and Emily Schriver took the reins at The Matriots, we stepped into our roles because we’re passionate about encouraging women to tap into their political power. Katie and her team work directly with more than 42,000 women across every county in Ohio to defeat extremism. Emily and her team have helped support more than 450 women running for elected office. … Read more

Black former state lawmakers from Ohio and Michigan on Monday broke with Democrats in general and the NAACP by arguing that a proposed constitutional amendment to overhaul redistricting will lead to fewer minorities in office. They also claimed that approval of Issue 1 would put the map-making pen in the hands of an inexperienced citizens panel that would be unaccountable to voters. Both arguments mirror … Read more

Ohio is one of the 11 most gerrymandered states in the United States. Issue 1, the “citizens, not politicians” ballot initiative in November would change that distinction. According to a report by the World Population Review, the total number of votes cast for each major party is consistently close in Ohio; however, gerrymandering techniques known as “packing” and “cracking” enabled the party that drew the … Read more

Issue 1 on Ohio’s November ballot would change the way the state draws district maps for Congress, the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate. The constitutional amendment before voters would replace the current politician-run redistricting commission with a 15-member citizen commission of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independents. Members couldn’t be elected officials, lobbyists or political consultants. Retired judges would narrow down … Read more

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose seems to never stop finding ways to undermine his own reputation, with decisions that flout his job duties as the state’s chief election official. He did it again last month, when he approved blatant partisan language for the Citizens Not Politicians state amendment on the November ballot. It’s the third Issue 1 on a statewide ballot in as many … Read more

As a member of Gen-Z, I often hear people my age say that they don’t vote because they feel their vote doesn’t matter. In a lot of ways, they’re absolutely right, but we can change that. I cast my first ballot in 2020 during my first year at the University of Dayton. I was excited to vote, but I was also disillusioned and disappointed. I … Read more

With just over a month before early voting starts for the 2024 general election, it’s a good time to tell readers there’s still time to register to vote if you’re not registered and time to make a change of address if you’ve moved since the last election, in May this year.  For general elections, when there’s a presidential contest voters will decide, we’re always told … Read more

Toledo resident Pierrette “Petee” Talley has not voted for her state senator since 2018; not because she didn’t want to, but because there hasn’t been one on the ballot. Ms. Talley, who lives on Parkside Boulevard, and other Toledo residents were previously in state Senate District 11, and they expected to vote for a candidate in 2018. When they got their ballots, though, they couldn’t … Read more

Remember the Frank LaRose of working across the aisle, seeking to solve problems, finding common ground with opponents? He had been fading away, especially as the secretary of state looked to gain favor and advance in a Trumpian Republican Party. Now he has disappeared entirely. At least, that was the clear impression as LaRose presided at the most recent gathering of the Ohio Ballot Board. … Read more

Projection must be one of the dirtiest deeds we find in politics these days, and it can be confoundingly effective. In this election season, some Ohio politicians are using it to persuade voters to harm themselves, just as those same leaders did last year. It didn’t work then, and you just might want to mount up again to ensure it does not work now. I’m … Read more

Advocates pushing an anti-gerrymandering amendment in Ohio to remove politicians from mapmaking in favor of a citizen commission said the state’s ballot board should be forced to start over on summary language for the November proposal. Attorneys said the proposed amendment would ban partisan gerrymandering “by setting forth robust redistricting criteria to ensure fair maps, selection standards to ensure the new commission’s impartiality and accountability, … Read more

Competition is the lifeblood of our economy. It drives innovation, improves services, and ensures that the best ideas rise to the top. But trust matters even more for the health of our economy – trust in business, government, and our political system. Issue 1, on our ballot this November, will help restore both competition and trust to government in Ohio. Right now, politicians skew election … Read more

Meandering, odd-shaped districts are the very picture of gerrymandering, which defines Ohio’s congressional map. It is among the most blatantly gerrymandered congressional maps in the nation. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project, which rates the maps of all 50 states, gives Ohio a “D” – placing it in the bottom one-fourth of the nation. The highly respected Cook Political Report, which assigns partisan indexes to all congressional … Read more

This Court has never hesitated to strictly enforce the legal requirements for the text that appears on the ballot.” COLUMBUS, Ohio – Today, the nonpartisan Citizens Not Politicians coalition filed its merit brief and evidence with the Ohio Supreme Court, challenging the Ohio Ballot Board’s misleading and biased language for Issue 1, the proposed constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering in Ohio. The filing emphasizes the … Read more

James Madison, in Federalist No. 10, warned us about the dangers of factions—groups that, driven by self-interest, work against the public good.  “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to … Read more

Beneath the Boy Scout demeanor of the Louisiana congressman with horn-rimmed glasses, lies a shrewd political operator who finessed his way to the most powerful position in Congress. But while U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson may disarm some with his unimposing pleasantness, the Shreveport Republican is consumed with maintaining and growing one-party domination. To that end, he’s gracing Ohio Tuesday night to headline a Cleveland … Read more

Voters must always be cautious about relying solely on ballot language to decide about a measure. There are often many parties involved in the process who have their own interests in making that language sway voters one way or another. Now, supporters of a state redistricting amendment in Ohio are objecting to the ballot board’s summary of their proposal, calling it inaccurate, devious and manipulative. … Read more

Ohio voters will start heading to the polls in 42 days for early voting and Election Day is now only 70 days away, which means campaigns are ramping up to be full speed ahead after Labor Day. There is only one state issue on the ballot this fall, called Issue 1, brought forward by Citizens Not Politicians. Some Ohioans are hitting the streets to help make sure … Read more

This fall, all 99 seats in Ohio’s House of Representatives are up for election. Voters should be seeing an exciting, unpredictable campaign season unfold, with candidates vying to address their needs.  That’s not happening. Because of the way the powerful lawmakers and political insiders drew the district lines, victory is all but guaranteed for many candidates, months before Election Day.   This is nothing new … Read more

Remember the Frank LaRose of working across the aisle, seeking to solve problems, finding common ground with opponents? He had been fading away, especially as the secretary of state looked to gain favor and advance in a Trumpian Republican Party. Now he has disappeared entirely. At least, that was the clear impression as LaRose presided at the most recent gathering of the Ohio Ballot Board. … Read more

In arguably the most brazen political maneuver in recent Statehouse history, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose is trying to flim-flam Ohioans into voting against their own interests. And this isn’t the first time. Last year, LaRose tried to persuade Ohio voters to make it harder to directly amend the state constitution by ballot issue, a right Ohioans have had since 1912. Voters said no … Read more

Smell that? Yeah, that stink. It’s the stench coming from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office as he spearheads a disingenuous process to deceive people about the intent of Issue 1, which goes before voters in November. The amendment would remove politicians’ control over redistricting and create an independent commission to draw fair legislative maps. That’s it in a nutshell. Instead, LaRose’s office wrote … Read more

Voters must always be cautious about relying solely on ballot language to decide about a measure. There are often many parties involved in the process who have their own interests in making that language sway voters one way or another. Now, supporters of a state redistricting amendment in Ohio are objecting to the ballot board’s summary of their proposal, calling it inaccurate, devious and manipulative. … Read more

For the third time in a little more than a year, Secretary of State Frank LaRose is in court over ballot language he and other Republicans wrote describing a measure they oppose. This time, LaRose is getting sued over language the GOP-controlled Ohio Ballot Board approved last Friday describing a redistricting reform amendment voters will decide in November. The campaign backing the amendment, Citizens Not Politicians, has … Read more

“Now he just serves evil” aptly describes a politician who repeatedly ignores his sworn duty to instead serve a corrupt gerrymandering system. Understand the rage against this corrupt political machine. For the third time in nine years, a bipartisan coalition has been forced to submit a statewide ballot measure to bring fair elections to Ohio because the first two were sabotaged with “unconstitutional” maps – … Read more

The Republican controlled Ohio Ballot Board, exercising a lose-at-all-costs strategy, has approved language for the proposed amendment to put citizens in charge of political redistricting that stamps the GOP’s political label on the ballot summary (“Reform backers to sue over ballot language,” Saturday). The group Citizens Not Politicians is right to claim the approved language violates Ohio law requiring impartial language. They are suing to … Read more

He’s done it again. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has deliberately sabotaged the ballot language of a citizens’ initiative on redistricting. He wants voters to defeat it in November so he’s manipulating the wording on the ballot summary to advance that objective.  I don’t know what happened to the state’s election chief. Early on LaRose had a solid reputation as a conscientious statewide official … Read more

The Ohio Supreme Court should step in on behalf of voters and order a rewrite of ballot language for a fall redistricting measure that “may be the most biased, inaccurate, deceptive, and unconstitutional” the state has ever seen, argues a lawsuit filed late Monday. Citizens Not Politicians, the campaign advancing November’s Issue 1, and two individuals brought the promised litigation against the Ohio Ballot Board and Republican Secretary of … Read more

The Ohio Ballot Board is being sued over language it’s using for a proposed constitutional amendment that would take politicians out of the redistricting process. The group Citizens Not Politicians is behind the ballot initiative that would remove Ohio politicians from the map-making process. In the lawsuit, the group is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to compel the ballot board to reconvene and adopt ballot … Read more

 The nonpartisan Citizens Not Politicians coalition today filed a lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court against the Ohio Ballot Board, challenging the historically deceptive and misleading ballot language adopted Friday for Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment to end gerrymandering. The suit seeks an expedited ruling to ensure that Ohio voters receive a fair and accurate description of the amendment on the Nov. 5 … Read more

Blatant abuse of power violates Ohio law, Constitution   Columbus, OH  — After the Ohio Ballot Board today adopted illegal and inaccurate language designed to mislead Ohio voters about Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment to end gerrymandering, the nonpartisan coalition supporting the amendment announced it will immediately file suit in the Ohio Supreme Court next week to have the language changed. “It’s one … Read more

The office of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has drafted ballot language for the Ohio Ballot Board to consider Friday that supporters of an anti-gerrymandering amendment say is deceptive and unconstitutional. The Ballot Board decides the text of proposed amendments that voters actually see on their ballots when they vote. The anti-gerrymandering amendment before Ohio voters in November, according to the language drafted by … Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Civil rights groups across Ohio are decrying the state elections chief’s proposed ballot language for a fall redistricting amendment as it goes up for a vote Friday, saying it intentionally twists their intent in order to boost opposition votes in November. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose proposes describing the Citizens Not Politicians measure as repealing “constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved … Read more

A panel of lawmakers meets Friday to determine the summary language voters will see in November when deciding whether to change the state’s redistricting process. The group behind the proposed constitutional amendment, Citizens Not Politicians, has submitted proposed language that the Republican-dominated Ohio Ballot Board could adopt. But if the past is prologue, it probably won’t. Critics concerned language can be changed by partisans Citizens Not … Read more

The Ohio Secretary of State’s office is proposing loaded ballot language for a redistricting reform measure on the November ballot Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office is proposing loaded ballot language for a redistricting reform measure, including references to manipulating the boundaries of legislative districts and repealing constitutional protections against gerrymandering. The proposed ballot language for state Issue 1, distributed Thursday and obtained by … Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Backers of a ballot issue that would change how state legislative and congressional districts are drawn in Ohio say ballot language written by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is illegally manipulative. The charge by the Citizens Not Politicians campaign comes after it received the proposed language from LaRose, a Republican. Most elected Republicans in Ohio have said they oppose the amendment, which could … Read more

Language adheres to legal requirements that the Ballot Board must adopt  ‘true and impartial statement’ COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Citizens Not Politicians campaign today sent proposed ballot language to the Ohio Ballot Board for the Nov. 5 election, aiming to provide Ohio voters with a clear and accurate description of the proposed constitutional amendment to reform Ohio’s redistricting process. The Ohio Ballot Board will meet … Read more

Gov. Mike DeWine has come out against the proposal on the fall ballot to change the way lawmakers’ district lines are drawn. He also touted Iowa’s redistricting process as one that should be used in the Buckeye State. But backers of Citizens Not Politicians, the group supporting Ohio’s proposed amendment, said elements of that process in Iowa were included in the Ohio proposal. While announcing … Read more

A ruling last week by a Republican judge demonstrates why Ohioans should approve this November’s “Citizens Not Politicians” ballot issue to end the gerrymandering of General Assembly and congressional districts. At issue: A bid by opponents to overturn Republican state legislators’ latest foray into bashing trans-sexual Ohioans, Substitute House Bill 68, passed in January, overriding its veto by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. DeWine is wrong … Read more

Mike Curtin is a former editor and associate publisher of the Columbus Dispatch, and a former two-term state lawmaker who served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. Geography class isn’t what it used to be. In the first two decades of the 21st century, our nation’s curriculum sages downgraded it. Then, in 2019, geography was removed altogether from the testing schedule of the National Assessment … Read more

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday called on Ohio voters to reject the voter-proposed “Citizens Not Politicians” ballot issue that will appear on November’s statewide ballot. If Ohioans ratify the plan – proposed by the petition signatures of 535,005 registered voters (almost 121,000 more than the required minimum) – the proposed constitutional amendment would wrest away control of drawing the state’s congressional and legislative districts … Read more

Ohio voters are about to seriously test the adage, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” And the people who are trying, yet again, to do the fooling are the state’s election officials. They successfully used a bait-and-switch tactic to derail bona-fide gerrymandering reform a decade ago. Will the tactics that Gov. Mike DeWine launched this week to repeat the … Read more

Citizens Not Politicians Campaign Finance Filing Shows Broad Support from Diverse Constituencies    Columbus, OH  — Less than a year since collecting its first donation, the nonpartisan statewide coalition Citizens Not Politicians has raised nearly $25 million from Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who support the coalition’s constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering in Ohio, according to the group’s campaign finance report filed today. “This is a … Read more

With a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would remove redistricting from politicians, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine wants the GOP-majority Statehouse to come up with a different solution. DeWine said at a news conference Wednesday the current system needs to be changed, but the amendment would create more gerrymandering than is currently seen. He wants lawmakers to develop a new plan during the … Read more

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he will work to defeat a fall ballot issue aimed at remaking the state’s troubled political mapmaking system, and, if it passes, work with state lawmakers next year to advance a competing amendment based on the Iowa model. At a news conference complete with corroborating visuals, DeWine contended that rules laid out in the Citizens Not Politicians amendment would … Read more

The Ohio NAACP, the Ohio Unity Coalition and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative responded to Gov. Mike DeWine’s statement on the Citizens Not Politicians ballot measure that gained enough signatures to reach the ballot in November. This amendment is incredibly important because Ohio is still one of the 10 most gerrymandered states in our nation,” said Petee Talley, executive director of the Ohio Unity Coalition. “In … Read more

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday called on Ohio voters to reject the voter-proposed “Citizens Not Politicians” ballot issue that will appear on November’s statewide ballot. If Ohioans ratify the plan — proposed by the petition signatures of more than 731,000 people — the proposed constitutional amendment will wrest away control of drawing the state’s congressional and legislative from Statehouse insiders, including DeWine. A 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission, composed of … Read more

Now he’s pitching a proposal that would have lawmakers draft redistricting reform based on an “Iowa plan” that leaves lawmakers with final authority Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine clutching his pearls Wednesday morning about predetermined partisan outcomes after he forced unconstitutional district maps on voters that gave his party 67 out of 99 Ohio House seats and 26 out of 33 Ohio Senate seats in a … Read more

Retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor today issued the following statement in response to Gov. Mike DeWine’s news conference in which he discussed redistricting: The disinformation from the Governor today is insulting to everyone in Ohio, and especially insulting to the half a million Ohioans — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — who put the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment on the November ballot. Gov. … Read more

Members of Ohio’s Redistricting Commission were served notice earlier this month that Ohioans have had enough of the mess the commission purposefully made of our voting districts. According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, the group Citizens Not Politicians managed to collect more than 731,000 signatures to prove the point. The effort was aimed at getting an amendment to the Ohio Constitution placed on … Read more

There’s some good news and some troubling news about election integrity and fair elections in Ohio. The big news is the certification of the Citizens Not Politicians issue for the November ballot. If passed, it would create a nonpartisan citizens commission, consisting of five Democrats, five Republicans and five unaffiliated or independent members, to redraw Ohio’s legislative and congressional districts to reflect the actual balance … Read more

The good news from the Statehouse last week was that Ohioans will get a chance this November to require fairly drawn General Assembly districts by wresting “apportionment” power from political insiders. The “Citizens Not Politicians” plan has been proposed by the petition signatures of 535,005 registered Ohio voters – almost 121,000 more (or 29%) than the required minimum. The constitutional amendment (key backers include retired Ohio … Read more

Ohio Republicans are considering trying to foil a redistricting reform amendment that recently qualified for the November ballot by putting up a separate redistricting proposal of their own to compete with it, according to a Republican state lawmaker who said she has discussed the plans with legislative leadership. Several state lawmakers who spoke with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer said they weren’t aware of any specifics. But … Read more

Ohio advocates believe lawmakers will finally be able to be held accountable now that an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment will be on the November ballot. Unsurprisingly, politicians who benefit from the redistricting process are not in favor of losing that power. Ohio could look drastically different in the coming years. “It was such an incredible feeling to know that we made the ballot,” Jen Miller with … Read more

The Citizens Not Politicians Amendment would replace the current method for drawing political district boundaries. It’s official: In November, Ohioans will have the opportunity to vote on the Citizens Not Politicians amendment to end gerrymandering, the practice of drawing political district boundaries in ways that benefit one party over another. Here are some explanations for what that means and how it works. What is gerrymandering? … Read more

Voters will decide in November whether to overhaul Ohio’s system of drawing political district maps after state officials said Tuesday the campaign had collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Citizens Not Politicians, the campaign group backing the amendment, needed to get 413,487 signatures, including a minimum number from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Tuesday the group had … Read more

Citizens Not Politicians submitted enough signatures to make the fall ballot. It’s official: Ohioans will vote on whether to remove politicians from congressional and statehouse redistricting this November. Citizens Not Politicians, the group backing a redistricting amendment, submitted enough valid signatures to make the fall ballot, the Ohio Secretary of State announced Tuesday. In total, 535,005 of the 731,306 signatures submitted were accepted, which was … Read more

The Ohio Secretary of State’s office said Tuesday the group that wants to reform the redistricting process submitted enough valid signatures to put the proposed constitutional amendment before voters in November. The group, Citizens Not Politicians, needed about 414,000 valid signatures. 535,000 from 58 of Ohio’s 88 countieswere certified. Chris Davey, the Citizens Not Politician spokesperson, said they expected to surpass the threshold of petitions … Read more

A constitutional amendment on redistricting in Ohio has qualified for the Ohio ballot in November, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Dubbed “Citizens not Politicians,” the amendment seeks to end what political experts have described as gerrymandered voter districts in Ohio. The amendment seeks to do four main things according to a website promoting it: The measure needed at least 413,487 signatures from 44 … Read more

Ohio voters will decide on a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment looking to change redistricting laws for the state this November. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Tuesday that the Citizens Not Politicians-led redistricting initiative aiming to remove politicians from the redistricting process will be on the ballot this election. Instead, the amendment proposes a redistricting commission to create a “fair, transparent and impartial redistricting process that genuinely … Read more

LIMA — Ohio voters thought the issue of gerrymandering, in which the determination of political district boundaries would favor one political party over another, was settled in a 2015 referendum that created the Ohio Redistricting Commission, a body that would provide for a more bipartisan approach to district mapping. However, in the wake of controversial redistricting results that led to multiple court cases in 2022 … Read more

Redistricting reform supporters are waiting to see if they make the Nov. 5 ballot – though it seems likely, since they submitted 300,000 more signatures than they needed. That would make it the only statewide issue on the fall ballot, since the group backing a minimum wage hike failed to get the required signatures.ic in The statewide ballot will feature a presidential race and a … Read more

For once, good news for Ohioans from the Statehouse: An enthusiastic throng, spearheaded by the retired chief justice of Ohio’s Supreme Court – Greater Cleveland Republican Maureen O’Connor – celebrated the submission last week of 731,306 signatures by registered voters who are backing a proposed Ohio constitutional amendment (the Citizens Not Politicians plan) to stymie the rigging of General Assembly and Ohio’s U.S. House districts … Read more

First in Series of Videos Underscores Broad Based Support for New Constitutional Amendment Just days after handing in more than 730,000 signatures and rallying hundreds of Republican, Democrat and Independent voters for a packed Statehouse demonstration, the Citizens Not Politicians coalition on Monday released its first salvo of the campaign for a constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering: A new video that highlights the damage gerrymandering … Read more

As the State of Ohio policy advocate for the National Council of Jewish Women, my volunteer role is to assist our members in creating relationships with our elected officials so those officials hear from and understand their constituents’ positions on proposed legislation. Fairness in elections is a critical part of our democracy and an issue of high importance. Elections are supposed to be about determining … Read more

Members of Ohio’s Redistricting Commission were served notice on July 1 that ordinary Ohioans have had enough of the mess the commission purposefully made of our voting districts. According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, the group Citizens Not Politicians managed to collect more than 731,000 signatures to prove the point. The effort was aimed at getting an amendment to the Ohio Constitution placed … Read more

(The Center Square) – A constitutional amendment to prevent political redistricting is likely to appear on the Ohio ballot in November. The Citizens Not Politicians campaign delivered 731,306 signatures collected from all 88 Ohio counties to the Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office for a constitutional amendment to establish an independent redistricting commission. The initiative has broad bipartisan backing. Supporters say the amendment, which bars current or … Read more