Today, the nonpartisan Citizens Not Politicians coalition submitted a slightly revised summary of their Ohio redistricting initiative to the Ohio Attorney General. The changes to the summary are minor and technical; none of the policy specifics have changed in the refiling. 

The amendment 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. 

The amendment and updated summary can be found at www.citizensnotpoliticians.org/petition.

“Our previous submissions were fully accurate and truthful summaries of this important amendment, but we have made the technical adjustments the Attorney General requested,” said Citizens Not Politicians Spokesperson Chris Davey. “We expect the Attorney General will now certify this petition summary without delay so we can move forward.” 

Each time the Citizens Not Politicians coalition has filed the petition summary, it has gathered thousands of signatures from citizens across Ohio.

“We’re seeing a massive response from Ohioans in every corner of the state because the politicians – Democrat and Republican – have demonstrated time and again that they are unwilling or incapable of drawing fair maps,” Davey continued. “It’s time for citizens, not politicians, to be in charge and to require a process that is open and maps that are fair.”

The Citizens Not Politicians group first filed its petition summary on August 14. On August 23, the Attorney General rejected the group’s original summary statement and stated specific changes he claimed were needed to achieve certification. After making those changes, the group resubmitted the revised petition summary on September 5. The Attorney General again rejected the summary on September 14.    

The Ohio Attorney General has 10 days to act on the resubmitted summary. Once the petition is certified, the Attorney General forwards it to the Ohio Ballot Board to confirm that the petition complies with Ohio’s single-subject rules. After Ballot Board certification, petitioners may begin to collect the required 413,487 valid signatures of registered voters by July 3, 2024, to qualify for the 2024 Ohio General Election Ballot. 

About Citizens Not Politicians
Citizens Not Politicians is a coalition of people and organizations seeking to end gerrymandering in Ohio by removing politicians from the redistricting process and instead empowering Ohio citizens to draw fair and impartial legislative and congressional districts through an open and independent process.