The Republican-dominated Ohio Ballot Board has made some minor tweaks to the language voters will see for Issue 1 when they go to the polls in November, at the order of the Ohio Supreme Court. But backers of the amendment said that language doesn't fairly represent the process they want voters to approve.
The Ballot Board adopted language proposed by the Secretary of State Frank LaRose that fixed specific parts of the summary that the court had identified, over objections from Democrats.
Issue 1 would create a 15-member panel made up of Republican, Democratic and independent citizens to draw lawmakers' district maps based on a proportionality formula that corresponds closely with the results of the last six statewide elections. Current and former elected officials and politicians could not serve on the panel. Though the amendment was written by Republican former Ohio Supreme Court chief justice Maureen O'Connor, the state's leading Republican officeholders and the Ohio Republican Party are against it, saying it will guarantee gerrymandering.
Republicans on the Ballot Board adopted a ten-point summary that runs three pages, written by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose. The group Citizens Not Politicians took issue with the title and with wording that says the new 15-member commission the amendment would create would be “required to gerrymander” congressional and legislative districts.
Citizens Not Politicians sued over eight of the ten points the Ballot Board approved. The Ohio Supreme Court ordered rewrites for two of them.
At the Ballot Board meeting, Democrats proposed several ways to change the summary language. All were denied. LaRose said he wanted to stay with the language approved by the Ohio Supreme Court in its ruling. And he said timing was an important consideration.
"We are less than 50 days, in fact, 47 days from a major presidential election," LaRose said."Once the board's work is done today, that sets into motion a lot of work by our county boards of elections to make sure that over the next 48 hours, they will be prepared to start sending out overseas and military ballots."
After the meeting, LaRose and the board's Republicans ignored calls from reporters for comment, and exited through a side door of the hearing room.
But the Democrats on the board stayed. Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo) lambasted LaRose and the majority members on the panel for their decision to approve ballot summary that did not accurately summarize the amendment.
"This was done and it was created for the main purpose of hoodwinking the voters," said Hicks-Hudson. "There's never been language like this done. If you go historically and look at how other secretaries of state have dealt with language such as this, they were take they're taking no chances to try not to hoodwink and to destroy our democracy."
Rep. Terrence Upchurch (D-Cleveland) disagreed with
the decision but said he intends to work to make sure Ohioans understand the truth about the amendment.
"We're going to get to work the same effort and enthusiasm that those folks put in to get those 700,000 signatures," Upchurch said.
Citizens Not Politicians spokesman Chris Davey said while Democrats opposed this summary language for Issue 1, the amendment itself has support from both Republicans and Democrats around the state.
"I think history will judge Frank LaRose and the other lying, cheating politicians who are doing everything they can to cling to power by stopping Issue 1, and people are seeing right through it. It's going to backfire," Davey said.
