Ohio Republicans Attempts to Derail Voters First Ohio Set Back by State Supreme Court

It seems like more than anything, Ohio Republicans want to defeat Issue 2 aka Voters First Ohio. It's a rational, sensible constitutional amendment that would take redistricting out of the hands of politicians — all politicians of any party — and put it in the hands of a bipartisan citizens commission with guidelines to create fair, balanced, coherent districts. I'm really getting tiring of telling you that I can't describe the district Joyce Healy-Abrams is running in.

Voters First Ohio makes so much sense it should be supported by people of all political stripes. And it IS support by Democrats, Libertarians, and Greens. But it's not supported by Republicans — because it would immediately suspend the excessive, unbalanced advantage they awarded themselves in congressional and legislative races, an advantage drawn behind closed doors in a process that shut out both citizens and legislators.

Republicans have lied, nitpicked, distorted and misled in their statements about Voters First Ohio. They've blown up tiny potential flaws into major disqualifiers, never mind that the current system is 100 times worse. They have smeared the League of Women Voters, one of the issue's lead groups, as a "special interest snake in the grass group."

And they wrote ballad language so deceptive and confusing that voters not well informed on the issue would have no idea what it was about — and automatically vote no.

Now the Ohio Supreme Court has said NO to the ballot language, agreeing it's deceptive and doesn't accurately describe the amendment.

http://votersfirstohio.com/ohio-supreme-court-says-ballot-summary-for-re...

It's ordered the ballot board to go back to the drawing board and draft new summary language. Ohio GOP leaders are probably meeting behind closed doors right now trying to figure out just how misleading they can be without triggering a smackdown.

Wouldn't it be nice if Republicans actually believed in democracy?