Most of us believe that voters should pick our leaders, our leaders should not pick their voters. We can stop politicians from choosing their voters by voting 'Yes' on State Issue 1 in November.

A prior letter meant to oppose Issue 1 actually confirms the importance of supporting Issue 1. This writer confirmed that corruption has led us not to trust our legislators. She correctly points out that voters strongly rejected gerrymandering twice in recent years. However, she neglects to inform readers that the legislative maps drawn by the politicians under those Constitutional Amendments were rejected 7 times by the bipartisan Ohio Supreme Court. The corrupt politicians never came up with Constitutional maps. Instead, they let the clock run out to avoid acting lawfully and adhering to the voters' decisions.    

And the politicians have been successful. Overall, Ohio voters are currently split 56% Republican and 43% Democrat. Yet 79% of the Ohio Senate and 68% of the Ohio House Representatives are Republican. This is the direct result of trusting that self-serving politicians will serve the interests of the people of Ohio and not their own interests.   

Now, power-hungry Republican officeholders are trying to confuse us with deceptive ballot language. As Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly wrote, "Given that the four members of this court in the majority today apparently think that the word 'boneless’ means ‘you should expect bones,’ I’m sure it comes as no great surprise that they think that a constitutional amendment to “ban partisan gerrymandering” means to “require gerrymander(ing).”

In America, we the people decide who will govern in our name. We can stand up for our freedom in November. Vote for fair districts by voting 'Yes' on Issue 1. And vote for Democrats running for the Ohio Supreme Court who will protect the will of the people.    

Franklin Brown

Fredericktown, Ohio