Taking a stand for the middle class - OCSEA

PEOPLE
POLITICIANS
Voters First volunteers file 750,000 signatures
to put redistricting fix on the ballot
What would Ohio
be like if politicians
actually had
to be accountable to their
constituents? What would
our state or our country
look like if politicians didn’t
manipulate their districts to
get elected over and over
again?
“Things would be a lot
more productive, that’s for
sure,” said OCSEA President
Christopher Mabe, “We
wouldn't have anti-middle
class bills like SB 5 pushed
through despite major citizen
opposition.”
To change all that and
put The PEOPLE in charge,
OCSEA activists and other
Voters First volunteers
across the state have hit the
streets, educating average
Ohioans about this issue.
Volunteers gathered over
750,000 signatures to get the
amendment on the November
ballot. This includes signatures
in 60 counties, exceeding the
required 44.
Voters First is currently waiting
on final word from the
Secretary of State as to whether
or not the measure has the
required signatures to be on the
fall ballot.
“Under the current broken
system, the politicians get to
retreat to the backrooms and
draw the lines of their own
districts – giving them the
power to rig districts to benefit
themselves or their friends. It’s
like letting the foxes guard the
henhouse – and the results have
been disastrous for Ohio,” said
Ann Henkener, director of
the League of Woman Voters,
the group backing this bipar-
tisan amendment to the Ohio
Constitution.
Find out more, including how
to volunteer and contribute at
votersfirstohio.com.
People, not politicians.
OCSEA activists in Mansfield urge drivers to stop and sign
the Voters First petition.
Right now, politicians
are the judge and jury at
their own trial. Even the
biggest newspapers in
Ohio agree that it’s time
to change the redistricting
process.
The Toledo Blade:
“…the right to vote is meaningless if the politicians get to
choose their voters.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer:
“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.”
Youngstown Vindicator:
“The system is rigged to benefit the party in power. And
given today’s extreme partisanship, there is little willingness
to play fair.”
Columbus Dispatch:
“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.”
8 Public Employee Quarterly Summer 2012