Leland: Access to citizen-led ballot initiative the only backstop to an extreme, gerrymandered legislature

State Rep. David Leland (D-Columbus) released the following statement today in response to new, fast-tracked legislation, House Joint Resolution 19, that would limit citizens’ access to Democracy in Ohio by placing new, arbitrary restrictions on the constitutional ballot initiative process in Ohio: 

“Ohio Republican leadership want to rig our Ohio democracy against voters. The citizen initiative has been the only backstop to rigged, gerrymandered districts and the extreme political agenda at the Ohio Statehouse. In the last several years, the General Assembly has only acted on major issues like redistricting reform and medical marijuana when faced with the threat of a citizen-led ballot initiative.

“It’s strange, but the whole concept of popular democracy seems foreign to them. Leadership only holds their positions of power because gerrymandering subverts the will of the people. Now they want to severely restrict one of the only avenues left for the majority of people to be heard.”