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 “argumentation” against Issue 1. 

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled seven times that politicians broke the law with unconstitutional gerrymanders, and the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today that politicians broke the law with lies about our Issue 1 amendment to end the gerrymandering they hold dear. 

Everyone knows what’s happening here. Citizens are going to fire politicians and lobbyists from drawing maps by voting Yes on Issue 1, and the politicians hate that. So politicians are lying and doing everything they can to confuse voters. 

But it’s not working, and it won’t work. Ohioans across the political spectrum — Republicans, Independents, Democrats — want to end gerrymandering. That’s why they’re voting yes on Issue 1: to reject the politicians’ lies, to get politicians and lobbyists out of the map-rigging business, and to end gerrymandering. 

On to November.