November Decisions...
Deadline passes as OVF petition resubmitted 

The Ohio Voters First petition that failed last week was resubmitted Saturday. It calls for an appointed bi-partisan commission to draw legislative maps following census population redistributions. The current system calls for state leaders to redraw districts, which typically means the party in power. 

According to one state senator, plus a number of others who have studied the petition, “it allows for an appointed board that is not responsible to the voters, has an unlimited budget and can designate its own salaries.” 

The original submission was found to have nearly half of the petitions falsified. Resubmission was due Saturday at noon. 

Regardless, one state representative said it will likely pass this time for the voters to decide in November. 

Statement from the Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett: 

COLUMBUS - The following is Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett’s statement as Ohio Voters First resubmit petitions today to the Secretary of State’s office. 

“With all the fraud and cheating we witnessed to this point, we feel very strongly that Ohio Voters First will not make it to the ballot in November.  Sadly, they took a noble cause and twisted it for partisan gain.  They are just another special interest snake in the grass and Ohioans were smart not to let this issue move forward.” 

Last week, Ohio’s Secretary of State found that nearly 50 percent of petitions initially submitted by Ohio Voters First were falsified. 

From the OVR web site... 

Right now politicians are the judge and jury at their own trial and it is apparent to anyone paying attention that they do not have the capacity for unselfish, public-spirited behavior when it comes to how they get their jobs. There’s been a lot of media coverage lately, so we’ve rounded up what people are saying and included it below. 

It’s time for “we the people” to change the system, and it can be done with a simple change: the voters should pick their elected officials instead of the politicians picking their voters. 

In an editorial on May 28, The Toledo Blade makes it clear, “the right to vote is meaningless if the politicians get to choose their voters.” 

Thomas Suddes, writing in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on July 7, also helps explain why the citizen led amendment to the Ohio Constitution is necessary: 

Ohioans know no party will ever willingly give up its own advantages. So why should voters tolerate the status quo on apportionment and congressional districting? People are entitled to expect self-sacrifice from saints, but only fools expect it from the average officeholder. And “average” is exactly what many of Ohio’s state legislators, and members of Congress, are. 

The Youngstown Vindicator was very direct in its assessment, “The system is rigged to benefit the party in power.  And given today’s extreme partisanship, there is little willingness to play fair.” 

So it is time for Ohio to get back on the right path and it is up to the people to do it.  Joe Hallett explains what Voters First is up against: 

Even as the amendment awaits final clearance for the ballot, [politicians] have launched an attack, absurdly claiming that it would disenfranchise voters and shroud the process in secrecy. These are the same [politicians] who drew the current legislative districts in a secret hotel room they called ‘the bunker’. . . [they] are poised to spend millions of dollars to defeat it because in today’s political realm, good governance is not the goal; acquisition and preservation of power is. 

In the same article, Mr. Hallett sums up the importance of this issue and, simultaneously, explains why politicians will use every trick in the book to defeat the amendment: 

“The Voters First amendment scares politicians because it would take away their power and require them to be accountable to the broad electorate. It would help return our misplaced government to its rightful owners.”