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

Members of Ohio’s Redistricting Commission were served notice earlier Monday 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 on … Read more

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio is one step closer to having a high-stakes redistricting reform amendment on the November ballot after backers submitted hundreds of thousands of voter signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office on Monday. We’re talking about the future of our government on Today in Ohio. Listen online here. Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, … Read more

Voters should be the ones to choose their leaders, not the other way around. While that idea may seem obvious, there are many states — including Ohio — where the people in charge of drawing voting maps are the politicians who stand to benefit most from manipulating those maps.   When politicians manipulate how voting maps are drawn to benefit themselves or their party, that’s … Read more

Nobody, but showboating extremists in the Ohio legislature, gives a damn about which school bathroom is used by a minuscule number of transgender students. Ask anyone not cocooned in a right-wing media bubble of religious zealotry, fear, and grievance about bathroom policing of trans youth and chances are they couldn’t care less.   Unlike state lawmakers — consumed with slipping bogus bathroom bans into an unrelated Ohio House … Read more

An Ohio political group hand delivered more than 731,000 petition signatures to the secretary of state’s doorstep on Monday with the hope that it’s enough to allow Ohioans to vote on redistricting reform this November. Signature verification by the state is set to follow. At least 413,487 of those signatures need to be valid, and 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties need to be represented by … Read more

This November, Ohioans may may weigh another statewide citizen-led change to Ohio’s constitution. Monday morning, two U-Haul trucks delivered 810 boxes to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office. Each box was filled with signatures collected from every county in the state in support of Citizens Not Politicians, a nonpartisan campaign to get a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment on November’s ballot. The group wants to create a … Read more

Backers of a proposal to change Ohio’s troubled political mapmaking system delivered hundreds of thousands of signatures on Monday as they work to qualify for the statewide ballot this fall. Citizens Not Politicians dropped off more than 700,000 petition signatures to Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office in downtown Columbus, according to Jen Miller, director of League of Women Voters. LaRose now will … Read more

U-Hauls backed in and out of a freight loading dock behind Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office in downtown Columbus on Monday, delivering stacks of boxes filled with paper petitions from across the state. The petitions contain signatures from Ohioans in all 88 counties who want to change the redistricting process. It takes months and lots of money to mount a successful effort to … Read more

Hundreds Rally at Ohio Statehouse to Restore Power to Citizens In a powerful display of popular support, the Citizens Not Politicians campaign today delivered 731,306 signatures from every county in Ohio to the Secretary of State’s Office for a constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering in Ohio. Republican, Democrat, and Independent Ohio voters unloaded 810 boxes of petitions from four trucks and delivered them to the … Read more

A group that hopes to change the process used for drawing legislative and congressional district lines will file their signatures Monday to put their plan before voters this fall. Citizens Not Politicians needs 413,487 valid signatures on petitions to put the constitutional amendment on the November ballot. The group said it will submit 731,000 signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office Monday. They’ve been … Read more

Fed up with politicians manipulating maps to ensure reelection, a crowd of Ohio voters took a key step toward offering a redistricting alternative on the November ballot. That alternative would replace Ohio’s current system for drawing congressional and legislative maps, which relies on elected officials, with a 15-member panel of Ohioans without close ties to politics. The campaign, called Citizens Not Politicians, delivered more than … Read more

Campaign workers with the Citizens Not Politicians redistricting amendment unload boxes of petitions at a loading dock for the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office in Columbus on Monday, July 1, 2024. (Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com)Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio is one step closer to having a high-stakes redistricting reform amendment on the November ballot, after backers submitted hundreds of thousands of voter signatures to … Read more

Ohio could soon vote on a new redistricting model that replaces politicians with a citizen panel. Backers of the overhaul are poised to submit more than 731,000 signatures on Monday to make the November ballot. Citizens Not Politicians wants to replace the current method of drawing congressional and legislative districts, which relies on politicians holding the mapmaking pen, with a 15-member citizen panel. Five Democrats, … Read more