The fight for justice will not end if Ohio Issue 1 is approved

Thomas Suddes
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By nightfall on Election Day (November 5), Ohio voters face a series of crucial decisions – starting with Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians plan, on the statewide ballot.

The General Assembly's gerrymandered districts have cursed Ohio with a Legislature more looking for headlines than solutions to the state's challenges. A “yes” vote on Issue 1 would reassure Ohioans that their legislature represents them – and engages with them – fairly real Issue.

Ask any Ohioan, especially in Northeast or Appalachian counties, whether he or she is better off because incumbent lawmakers are dividing voters over so-called social issues instead of uniting them behind a positive agenda.

Shipping confirmation: Editorial: Ohio Issue 1 would give voters more power. Here's how.

Although it's already been mentioned, it bears repeating until someone in the Statehouse grabs the ball and runs with it:

In 1969 – when Richard Nixon was in the White House and the Archies' “Sugar, Sugar” was the No. 1 national hit that year – Ohio's per capita personal income was 100.68% of the national average. In 2023, Ohio's per capita personal income was 88.14% of the national average, one-eighth less.

As the Dispatch recently reported: “A grim 2023 report from the Ohio Department of Development projects the state’s population will decline by about 675,000 people by 2050, a 5.7% decline if current trends “continue (while) the U.S. population is expected to grow by 17.3% during this period.”
As of last month, approximately 3.05 million Ohioans (26% of the state's population) were enrolled in the federal Medicaid health program. (The monthly income limit for an Ohio Medicaid customer ages 19 to 64 is $1,670.) Next time you attend your child or grandchild's sporting event, look around and imagine that one in four Person in the stands is a Medicaid customer. That is the scope of Ohio Medicaid.

How does our rigged District General Assembly react to these stark facts? Incite against transgender Ohioans. Or limit women's health options. If a candidate for the General Assembly pumps up such “issues,” he or she can win a Republican primary because gerrymandered districts can result in party primaries being decisive in electing legislators.

For this reason, Issue 1 puts the election of electoral districts (for the General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives) out of the hands of the political district managers.

Issue 1 would authorize a 15-member citizen redistricting commission made up of Democrats, Republicans and independents to draw fair districts. And Issue 1 would ban current or former officials and lobbyists from being commissioners, except for Statehouse insiders accustomed to La-Z-Boy politics that allow for gerrymandered districts.

No wonder a group of Republicans…sparing…with the truth – Drum Major: Lame Duck Secretary of State Frank LaRose of Upper Arlington – are doing everything they can to confuse and mislead Ohioans about what Issue 1 would cause. Just as bad, a shameless GOP majority on the Ohio Supreme Court refused to rein in the deceptive ballot language invented by the Ohio Election Commission, of which LaRose is chairman.

The folly of Supreme Court Republicans in refusing to overturn the Electoral Board's lies may be a foreshadowing of things to come: If Ohioans actually vote “yes” on Item 1, it is absolutely certain that their enemies will everything they can to connect it to lawsuits and similar courtroom theatrics.

That's another reason why this year's state Supreme Court elections are critical to preserving democracy in Ohio and hurting Ohioans' right to redress.

Democratic Justices Michael P. Donnelly and Melody J. Stewart, both of Greater Cleveland, are seeking re-election to the Supreme Court. Their respective Republican challengers are Judge Megan Shanahan of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court and Judge Joseph T. Deters of Cincinnati.

Democratic Judge Lisa Forbes of the Cleveland-based Ohio Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) is seeking an open seat on the Supreme Court. Her GOP opponent is Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Dan Hawkins.

If voters approve Issue 1 while keeping Justices Donnelly and Stewart on the Ohio Supreme Court and adding Justice Forbes, it could give Issue 1 a fair outcome if, as is likely, Statehouse hacks file a lawsuit to overturn it block: after all, fairness matters Issue 1 is all about that.

Thomas Suddes is a former law reporter at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes at Ohio University. [email protected]

The fight for justice will not end if Ohio Issue 1 is approved

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