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 results so that our legislative bodies reflect the will of politicians — rather than the needs of the citizenry. This erodes trust and leads to policies that are plainly tone-deaf to the needs of the people.
Ohio is one of the most gerrymandered states in America. This hinders effective policy development, sends the wrong message to the public and poses a risk to attracting and retaining the talent so vital to our state’s well-being. Partisan-driven political efforts to predetermine outcomes of elections take us further down a dark path in which people no longer believe in our institutions.
At its core, gerrymandering severely weakens public trust in the political system. Manipulating district boundaries for political gain erodes voter confidence and trust in government. Creating fair, competitive districts will restore faith in our political system and ensure that our representatives work for us, not their self-interest.
Our open letter with more than 80 of our fellow Ohio CEOs urges passage this November of Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians constitutional amendment to end partisan gerrymandering, improve our economy, and restore competition and trust to our politics.
Issue 1, the constitutional amendment before us, would empower a truly independent citizen-led process to draw congressional and state legislative maps. Building on successes in other states, the Ohio proposal would explicitly ban gerrymandering, prohibit consideration of individual incumbents or candidates when drawing maps, and ensure an open and transparent redistricting process with extensive and meaningful public input.
When ordinary citizens come together, as they have in Michigan, Colorado and Arizona, they get fair, balanced and competitive maps. This is why the nonpartisan Princeton University Gerrymandering Project, a gold standard in evaluating the nation’s legislative maps, gives grades of As and Bs to those three states. Princeton’s researchers find that citizen-drawn maps lead to more competition and equitable partisan balance, representing all parties and communities, and avoiding the irregular shapes common in gerrymanders.
This is especially so for the maps that that will be drawn in Ohio upon passage of the proposed Citizens Not Politicians constitutional amendment.
But the continued erosion of public trust again reared its ugly head earlier this month, on Aug. 16, when the Ohio Ballot Board voted 3-2 to approve unfairly illegally loaded ballot language, further eroding public trust.
By creating fair, competitive districts, we can help restore faith in our political system and do more to ensure our representatives work for us.
As an economy, we need healthy competition to thrive.
As human beings, we honor trust.
It is time to bring this competitive spirit to our political system and, above all, it is time to restore trust to our politics.
We join hands with more than 80 of our business colleagues in urging all Ohioans to support Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians amendment this November.