Group collected signatures to end gerrymandering in Ohio during Chillicothe stop on Saturday

Chillicothe Gazette
·2 min read
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CHILLICOTHE — About 25 advocates of fair elections from across Ohio gathered in Chillicothe Saturday for a mass signature-gathering effort to ensure a proposed constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering in Ohio qualifies for the November ballot.

Gathering signatures in Chillicothe is especially meaningful given that the city twice served as Ohio’s capital in the early 1800s before the Statehouse’s permanent move to Columbus, said the Rev. Terry Williams of Chillicothe’s Orchard Hill United Church of Christ.

"Ohioans have a deficit of hope because they haven't been heard by elected officials for generations,” remarked Williams. "Faith communities across the state stand with Citizens Not Politicians because we trust Ohioans and their voices deserve to finally be heard."

The proposed Citizens Not Politicians Amendment would replace the current process run entirely by politicians with a new process run by Ohio citizens.

Gerrymandering is the practice in which politicians draw political boundaries to give themselves unfair advantage.

"The current gerrymandered system has left too many working people behind," said Jason Perlman, Political Director of the Ohio AFL-CIO. "Our members are in every Ohio county collecting signatures to ensure that every Ohioan has fair representation in the statehouse and Congress."

More than 9 million Ohioans, or 77% of the state population, live in districts where one party has a severe advantage in the 2024 Ohio House of Representatives elections, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law.

In addition, Ohio’s partisan map-drawing process meant that nearly half of the 99-member Ohio House lacked a competitive primary contest to nominate the likely winners for the upcoming general election, the Brennan analysis found.

The nonpartisan group Citizens Not Politicians has volunteers across Ohio collecting signatures. They must collect over 413,000 valid signatures by July 3 to qualify for the November ballot.

The Citizens Not PoliticiansAmendment will:

  • Create the 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission made up of Republican, Democratic and independent citizens who broadly represent the different geographic areas and demographics of the state.

  • Ban current or former politicians, political party officials, and lobbyists from sitting on the commission.

  • Require fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor any political party or individual politician.

  • Require the commission to operate under an open and independent process.

Seven other states have similar independent citizen redistricting commissions: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, and Washington.

If approved, the new commission could draw maps that could be in place for the 2026 elections.

For more information visit https://www.citizensnotpoliticians.org.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Citizens Not Politicians group collects signatures in Chillicothe