State Senator Paula Hicks-Hudson makes her case
OHIO – Why have 38,000 Lucas County voters not been able to vote for their Ohio state senate candidate for the last two elections? Politician-drawn state maps.
Why did citizens in all 88 counties in Ohio gather signatures in the rain, sleet and snow to stop these politicians from continuing to draw unconstitutional maps? Because Ohioans, regardless of party label, believe in fairness.
Why did the “Citizens Not Politicians” campaign turn in more than 730,000 signatures to put Issue 1 on the November ballot? The petition gatherers believe that power belongs with the people and not politicians.
Why were there no members of the public at either of the two Ohio Ballot Board meetings to offer support for the ballot language that the majority members adopted? Because politicians are on the Ohio Ballot Board and wrote the ballot language to mislead Ohioans.
Why did the majority members of the Ohio Ballot Board create misleading ballot language to trick voters on Issue 1? Simply put, because politicians don’t trust voters!
There is a saying that “power begets power.” The November 5 election is truly a monumental time in our state; this election decides whether power is in the hands of the citizens or politicians. Not to diminish the national election, but Issue 1 is critically important for the future of the state of Ohio.
On November 5, Ohioans will vote on this citizen-led initiative to correct the mistakes that were made in 2015 and 2018, along with electing a president and other candidates. But removing control of the map-drawing process from politicians and creating a citizen redistricting commission is critical if we truly believe in a fair, representative democracy.
We all should remember that the Ohio Supreme Court ruled seven times that the 2022 legislative and congressional maps drawn by politicians were unconstitutional. Even though citizens were given the opportunity to present various versions of state and federal legislative districts, their maps were rejected by politicians on the Ohio Redistricting Commission. Furthermore, the Ohio Supreme Court said that the politician-drawn maps did not meet the rules and directives of the 2018 laws.
In 2022, students at Jones Leadership Academy were given the assignment to draw their own state and federal district maps in accordance with the same rules that the Ohio Redistricting Commission is supposed to follow. You could not imagine how stunned the students were when they witnessed what the adults did! Even high school juniors working on a school assignment could not believe how drastically the rules were violated.
The critics of this ballot initiative would have Ohio voters believe that the 15-member commission would have no oversight. This is not true! The process for becoming part of the commission ensures that members would not be so intent on creating districts to ensure their party’s politician has an unfair advantage.
There will be an open application and application review process, along with eligibility requirements independent of current party politics.
The ballot initiative would also mandate that the public have a meaningful opportunity to review the proposed maps and provide input BEFORE they are voted on. This is in contrast to the final 2022 and current maps, which were voted on without public feedback or input.
Other portions of the ballot initiative highlight why I will be voting “yes” on Issue 1. But rather than rely on the misleading language that the Ohio Ballot Board majority members created, please read the actual petition language that 730,000 voters signed to put this question before the citizens.
As the students told me at Jones Leadership Academy, fairness is fundamental!
