Ohio Supreme Court clears ballot language saying anti-gerrymandering measure calls for the opposite
Ohio Supreme Court clears ballot language saying anti-gerrymandering measure calls for the opposite
The Ohio Supreme Court has let stand ballot language that will describe this fall's Issue 1 as requiring gerrymandering, when the proposal is intended to do the opposite.
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I consider myself a relatively intelligent person but I'm having a difficult time parsing this sentence.
Can someone dumb this down for me just a little bit? Are they saying they're approving an anti-gerrymandering measure that actually gerrymanders?
An anti-gerrymandering bill was introduced, this would take the power of drawing district maps away from a partisan committee made of all republicans, and give that power to a board of 15 people, including 5 reps from each party and 5 non-affiliated citizens.
The people who write the bill summary that appears on the ballot (republicans) worded it as "requires gerrymandering [...] in favor of the two largest parties". This clearly wrong summary was challenged in court, and the OH supreme court (republicans) has ruled this inverse description is legal, and will appear on the ballot.
We're in a position now where voters will have to vote Yes to 'gerrymander the district borders', to put this new bipartisan board in place.
And then if the initiative passes they can come back and say 'But the people clearly voted to require gerrymandering to favor the 2 largest parties'. Head I win, Tails you lose.
Theoretically the bill's summary language shouldn't impact the intent of the bill, but it will likely confuse the shit out of voters at the polls. Similar to the abortion bill language last year.