Nonpartisan Coalition Will Sue Over Illegal Ballot Language Designed to Mislead Voters about Issue 1
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 grotesque abuse of power after another from politicians desperate to protect the current system that only benefits themselves and their lobbyist friends,” said retired Republican Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, who helped draft Issue 1. "Do the politicians not see how angry voters are when they keep breaking the law to protect their own power? Secretary of State Frank LaRose voted seven times for maps that courts ruled were unconstitutional, and this week he violates the Constitution with objectively false ballot language. It’s a desperate abuse of power, and it’s not going to work.”
“This is just another example of why we need to get politicians out of redistricting,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “They ignore the law over and over, insult voters, and do anything they can to protect themselves and their cronies.”