Summary of petition to amend legislative redistricting process accepted

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has determined that the language in the most recent petition summary of a proposed state constitutional amendment that would modify the legislative redistricting process does meet the requirement of being fair and truthful.   

The initiative – titled “An Amendment to Replace the Current Politician-Run Redistricting Process with a Citizen-Led Commission Required to Create Fair State Legislative and Congressional Districts Through a More Open and Independent System” – seeks to repeal Articles XI and XIX of the Ohio Constitution and introduce an Article XX.

The Attorney General’s role in the petition process as laid out in ORC 3519.01 is to determine whether the submitted language fairly and truthfully summarizes the proposed statute or constitutional amendment. The summary language has met this requirement.

Next in the process, the Ohio Ballot Board must determine whether the proposal contains a single constitutional amendment or multiple constitutional amendments. If the board certifies the proposal, the petitioners must then collect signatures from registered voters equal to at least 10% of the vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. Those signatures must come from voters in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties and, for each of those counties, the number must equal at least 5% of the vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election.

If sufficient signatures are verified by the Ohio Secretary of State at least 65 days before the election, the full text of the proposed amendment shall be placed on the ballot in the next regular or general election that occurs subsequent to 125 days after the filing of such petition.

The full text of the certification letter and the petition can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Petitions.