July 5

Citizen map drawing proposal expected to be on the ballot in November

Published: Wednesday, July 04, 2012, 6:05 AM

By Reginald Fields, The Plain Dealer

The Plain Dealer

Columbus -- A group backed by Democrats and hoping to change how Ohio's congressional and legislative maps are drawn says it has submitted enough signatures to get its proposal on this November's ballot.

Voters First, a coalition backed by the Ohio Democratic Party and We Are Ohio, the effort behind last year's successful repeal of Senate Bill 5, turned in about 430,000 signatures Tuesday to the Secretary of State's Office for verification. Just over 385,000 need to be validated for the proposed constitutional amendment to be added to the Nov. 6 election ballot.

The group's supporters said they grew frustrated earlier this year watching the Republican-controlled legislature take on the once-a-decade task of redrawing the state's election maps, which they said amounted to a partisan process of protecting seats rather than making them competitive.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/07/citizen_map_drawing_proposal_e.html