Vote yes on Issue 1. “Citizens Not Politicians” activists have brought this to the ballot again with 731,000 signatures. The legislators wrote the description of the ballot issue in “pig Latin” to try to confuse us. The issue of the bill is “gerrymandering,” which is the unfair map drawing of political districts to favor one political party.
Voting yes would put it in the hands of 15 selected bipartisan citizens: Five independent, five Republican and five Democrats.
Colorado and Michigan have done away with gerrymandering, and it has made the voting districts more fair. Ohio is comprised of 56% Republicans and 44% Democrats, but the legislature is 70% Republican and 30% Democrat.
In 2015 and 2018, this problem was brought in front of the Ohio Supreme Court, and it was found to be unconstitutional. Seven times maps were drawn, and they were found unconstitutional. The legislators in charge in 2022 were local politicians, and they “pretty much do what we want” and turned the fairly drawn maps in too late for future elections.
My parents from the “Greatest Generation” were sticklers for honesty: Honesty in family life and community life, and they expected their politicians to be honest as well. This is what I have looked for also, and in recent years I have been seriously disappointed at the local level. The Larry Householder scam in the Ohio legislature made Ohio the most corrupt statehouse in the country. This simple fact of the legislative members keeping silent on that shows how easy they will flip districts to favor their friends. Vote yes on Issue 1.
Robert Huenke
Lima
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