Thu 3/28 @ 7PM
As The New Yorker magazine wrote in August 2022 in a story titled “State Legislatures Are Torching Democracy,” Ohio is no longer a functioning democracy, thanks largely to gerrymandering — drawing congressional and legislative district maps to favor politicians and one political party over another. It has gotten increasingly worse over four decades — and we were warned. After the 2011 gerrymander, map-making experts told us that, with increasingly sophisticated computer programs that can identify voters down to the household, fair elections would no longer be available to voters in Ohio after 2021. That happened, despite voters passing constitutional amendments in 2015 and 2018 aimed at making the process fair. The politicians in charge simply ignored the state constitution.
So now a grassroots group called Citizens Not Politicians is working to remove politicians from the process of drawing their own districts to keep their power. They’ve been gathering signatures since December to place another amendment on the November ballot that would create a carefully vetted, non-partisan citizens commission to draw the district lines. They have until the beginning of July so it seems more likely than not the issue will be on the ballot. Expect a blitz of lies.
Get the truth. To the north of us, Michigan has already taken this step, and as a result, has transformed its government to one that truly represents the balance of its voters. Katie Fahey, co-founder and executive director of The People, which works for more responsive and representative government, and former executive director of Voters Not Politicians, which passed the issue in Michigan, will be speaking at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River on “How We Ended Gerrymandering in Michigan.”
The forum is sponsored by Citizens not Politicians and Fair Districts Ohio. It’s free and open to all, as Ohio government should also be.
2 Responses to “Learn More About Bringing Democracy Back to Ohio”
Michael A James
Thanks! It’s about darn time.
Jeffrey Robey
Thank you for doing this. Where do I sign.