Group behind redistricting amendment files lawsuit against Ohio Ballot Board

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — The group behind the only statewide ballot issue this November has brought a lawsuit against the Ohio Ballot Board to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Citizens Not Politicians put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, called Issue 1, to take elected officials out of the redistricting process. On Friday, the Ohio Ballot Board passed the language voters will be seeing on their ballots. The group called the language that was passed “egregious,” and immediately decided to file a lawsuit.

“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,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also called the language adopted on Friday the “most biased, inaccurate and unconditional ballot language ever adopted by the Ohio Ballot Board.”

Citizens not Politicians is asking the Ohio Supreme Court, which is made up of four Republicans and three Democrats, to “compel the Ballot Board to reconvene and adopt ballot language that accurately reflects the amendment’s purpose and content.”

If passed in November, Issue 1 would create a redistricting commission composed of 15 citizens: five Democrats, five Republicans and five Independents. The current process puts seven elected officials on the redistricting commission; its makeup, though fluid, is currently five Republicans and two Democrats.

Opponents of the amendment argue that it goes beyond just creating the commission, and would give Ohioans no recourse if they are unhappy with it, as the people on the commission are not elected officials held accountable by the public.

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