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Issue to Reform How Ohio Draws Congressional Districts Gets the OK to Begin Collecting Signatures

photo of voting stickers
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU

Backers of a plan to allow Ohio voters to vote on congressional redistricting reform this fall have cleared one more hurdle. 

The Ohio Ballot Board, the panel made up mostly of lawmakers that approves language for ballot issues, has certified the proposed amendment on redistricting. It would allow voters to approve a plan to create congressional districts that is similar to voters passed for  state lawmakers two years ago.

Ohio Common Cause, The League of Women Voters and the Ohio Environmental Council now need to do some quick signature gathering if they want voters to decide it this year.

The groups need to collect nearly 306,000 valid signatures from at least half of Ohio’s counties by July 5th in order to put the issue on this fall’s ballot. Organizers have already said they think that’s highly unlikely, and the issue is more likely to be on next year's ballot.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.