Supporters of Issue 1 sue over Ohio Ballot Board's wording of redistricting issue

Backers of an Ohio redistricting measure to strip politicians of mapmaking powe r sued over GOP-approved ballot language that the campaign says deceives voters.

After a heated Ohio Ballot Board meeting Friday , the Citizens Not Politicians campaign filed a legal challenge with the Ohio Supreme Court on Monday. The ballot language for the issue on the November ballot, approved along party lines, emphasized how the proposed constitutional amendment would repeal prior anti-gerrymandering language approved by voters in 2015 and 2018.

But backers say that language didn't work. A divided Ohio Supreme Court rejected multiple congressional and state legislative maps as gerrymandering that unfairly favored Republicans. Last year, seven statewide and legislative leaders unanimously approved statehouse maps − even as Democrats criticized the process.

The constitutional amendment issue on the ballot this fall would replace politicians with a 15-member citizen commission to draw congressional and state legislative districts. Retired judges would help select the panel of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independents who could not have close political ties.

Among the issues raised in the lawsuit, the ballot campaign contends that:

• the proposed amendment doesn’t encourage gerrymandering, which would make the GOP-approved ballot language inaccurate.
• the public could express their opinions to the proposed citizen commission.
• the GOP-approved language “includes misleading and biased language that further serves to sway voters against the amendment.”

The Ohio Constitution requires that ballot language not mislead, deceive or defraud the voters. If it does, the Ohio Supreme Court can invalidate it.

"This Court’s intervention is needed to ensure that Ohio voters are provided with the truthful and impartial ballot title and ballot language required by law so that they can exercise their right to determine for themselves whether to amend the Ohio Constitution,” according to the lawsuit.

Last year, the group backing Ohio's abortion rights amendment called ballot language approved by Republicans on the Ohio Ballot Board "propaganda." The Ohio Supreme Court ordered the board to tweak a portion of that language but most remained . Even so, Ohio voters approved the measure 57-43%.

Challenge to Issue 1 ballot language by Jessie Balmert on Scribd

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio .

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Supporters of Issue 1 sue over Ohio Ballot Board's wording of redistricting issue