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.

Between us, we have five kids, two husbands, and more than 50 employees. Like most Ohioans, we lead busy lives. And like all Ohioans, we don’t have time for political nonsense.

Yet that’s exactly what we’re witnessing, again and again, when it comes to the simple idea that everyday Ohioans should have a voice in political decision-making. Secretary of State Frank LaRose and his political friends seem to think frightening and confusing voters is the only way they can score political wins — and they’ve been running this playbook for years now.

• Since 2022, Ohio has used gerrymandered maps produced by the Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission — even after they were deemed unconstitutional. We’ve been drawn into districts where election results are all but locked in before votes are even cast.
• In August 2023, the same politicians tried to undermine our right to join together as everyday citizens to amend the state constitution by ballot issue, a right Ohioans have had for over 100 years.
• Last November, knowing that most Ohioans believe that whether or not to have an abortion should be up to a woman and her doctor, politicians tried to confuse voters about the Reproductive Freedom state constitutional amendment with scary and misleading ballot language.

We don’t have time for any of this. While they’re drawing maps to serve themselves and changing ballot language to confuse voters, we’re trying to protect our communities and get our kids to eat breakfast.

Good thing voters are smarter than they think we are. Last year in August, voters came together across partisan lines (including the majority of voters in 16 counties that voted for Donald Trump) to say “no” to ending majority rule. Last November, we came together to say “yes” to reproductive freedom.

This November, we need to do it again.

The vast majority of Ohioans think that voters should be the ones who decide who wins elections, not politicians. But the same politicians who tried to undermine our voices last year are trying to confuse voters again, this time about the state constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering. They’ve written misleading ballot language because they hope we’ll vote against having a choice in our own government.

As moms, this looks familiar. Republicans have changed the ballot language to say that the constitutional amendment – which would ban gerrymandering – would actually “require” gerrymandering. It reminds us of schoolyard taunts: “I know you are, but what am I?”

Here’s something else we know as moms: Schoolyard taunts usually come from bullies who are really just weak and afraid of losing power.

The same is true of Frank LaRose and his political friends. When they go up against the people of Ohio, they keep losing. Their repeated attempts to mislead the public with faulty ballot language shows how afraid they are of us.

But we’re not afraid. No matter what language they put on the ballot, they can’t change what the constitutional amendment actually says. A “yes” vote for Issue 1 is a vote for having a voice in Ohio.

There’s an easy way to avoid all the distortions. Don’t rely on what anyone else wants you to think the constitutional amendment says. Read it yourself.

Katie Paris is founder and CEO of Red Wine & Blue and Emily Schriver is CEO of The Matriots.

Read original piece here.