Supporters of the anti-gerrymandering amendment call GOP-controlled board ‘dishonest’ for warping proposal

Supporters of the anti-gerrymandering amendment call GOP-controlled board ‘dishonest’ for warping proposal

Ohio voters could see an extremely misleading description of a proposal to curb extreme partisan gerrymandering on their November ballots after Republicans approved controversial language on Friday.

At issue is how to describe a proposal that would create a 15-person citizen commission to draw congressional and state legislative districts in Ohio. The commission – five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents – would be prohibited from drawing districts that “that favor one political party and disfavor others”.

But the language approved on Friday by the Republican-controlled Ohio ballot board misrepresents the proposal – instead leading voters to think they have less power in the process. It says the commissioners would be “required to gerrymander the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts to favor the two largest political parties in the state of Ohio”.

  • stickyShiftEnglish
    17·
    26 days ago

    Dumb question I’m too lazy to Google - who decides the wording for these questions? It seems like it’s always Republicans, no matter who is proposing the question

    • greenskye@lemm.eeEnglish
      20·
      26 days ago

      Republicans control a lot of state government positions. It’s part of their whole strategy.

      • 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
        16·
        26 days ago

        They gerrymander to get/keep those positions then use those positions to keep gerrymandering around. It’s a vicious cycle.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      18·
      26 days ago

      It’s Democrats in blue states, but blue states haven’t need urgent ballot measures about basic rights recently, so all the news stories are about red states.

      Here’s a story about a California Democrat changing the name of a ballot question, except instead of lying they changed it from the “Protect Kids of California Act” to the more accurate “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth”.