Below is a message from the League of Women Voters:

“Last Tuesday, the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Common Cause Ohio applauded the overwhelming passage of Substitute Senate Joint Resolution 5 by the Ohio General Assembly. SJR 5 will place an issue on the May ballot reforming Ohio’s congressional redistricting process to protect voters’ interests.

After weeks of negotiations, the Fair Districts = Fair Elections coalition reached a compromise last Monday with legislative leaders of both parties on a new process for drawing congressional districts. The proposed constitutional amendment will go before Ohio voters for approval in May.  Meanwhile, the coalition will continue our petition effort in case the legislature measure does not pass. We are committed to the principles put forth in our proposal, and are prepared to submit the amendment for the November ballot if the legislature’s proposal fails.

“This compromise was hard-fought – down to the last minute – requiring concessions on both sides, and we are not entering into it lightly. We will work to educate voters and support this issue on the May ballot, but we will not abandon our proposal until redistricting reform is a reality, not just an agreement,” said Beth Taggart, interim Executive Director of LWV Ohio. “Ultimately, what brought legislators to the table and kept them talking to us was the record-breaking work of our incredible volunteers collecting over 200,000 petition signatures.”

By requiring significant bipartisan support, first in the legislature and then in the Ohio redistricting commission, and triggering strict rules for drawing districts if the parties cannot come to an agreement, this process will set up checks and balances to improve congressional maps. Partisan gerrymandering has a long and ignominious history, dating back to America’s founding fathers, but this measure will make significant progress toward fairer districts. For more information, see a more detailed summary and the text of the resolution .

“Voters have waited far too long for state lawmakers to come together to fix gerrymandering and create fairer elections,” said Catherine Turcer of Common Cause Ohio. “Voters deserve to participate in meaningful elections, and Democrats and Republicans came together to pass a resolution that will help rein in the worst excesses of partisan gerrymandering.””

Until redistricting reform passes in May, the petition drive will remain open. If you have petitions with signatures, please email actionteam@organizing4ua.com to arrange to turn them in. You may continue to collect signatures, as long as it is made clear that the Fair Districts = Fair Elections coalition is supporting the Ohio General Assembly’s proposal, and that petitions would only be submitted as a backup plan if the issue fails in May.

Thank you for your efforts on this important issue!

We didn’t just survive a year of Trump. We #resisted. We #persisted. And in 2018, we will work to elect progressive candidates at all levels. Who is in?

Organizing4UA invites you to our next team meeting to be held on Tuesday, August 29th. Our topic will be “Immigration 101: Focus on Refugee Issues.”    The idea for this meeting topic came from our small group session this summer.

What to expect:

The United States Refugee Program has emerged as headline news in recent media coverage. Please join us to learn how refugee resettlement works.

• What is a refugee journey like before coming to the U.S.?

• How are refugees referred to the United States refugee program?

• Why do they go to a particular geographic location?

• What are the demographics of refugees who have come to Central Ohio?

Our speaker, Angie Plummer, is the Executive Director of Community Refugee & Immigration Services (CRIS). She will explain refugee processing and discuss recent developments resulting from the presidential executive order and court decisions and how they have impacted families and resettlement infrastructure.

Ms. Plummer will be joined by refugee panelists who will share their personal experiences and perspectives.

DETAILS

Topic: “Immigration 101: Focus on Refugees”
– guest speaker Angie Plummer and refugee panelists

Date/Time:
Tuesday, August 29 – 7:00-8:30 pm

 Location:
Upper Arlington Main Library, 2800 Tremont Road
Friends Theater (lower level)

Thanks to everyone who attended our June meeting. After Chase gave us an introduction to “Organizing for Beginners”, we broke out into small groups. We introduced ourselves and each shared one idea for “how not to let Trump ruin our lives”.

We then discussed issues relating to immigration, health care, education, and the environment and came up with ideas for possible future actions.  Over the past few weeks, our primary focus has been redistricting reform, but it’s important for us not to lose sight of the many other issues that brought us together in the first place.

Speaking of redistricting reform, we’d like to take a moment to thank the many volunteers who have collected over 2,000 signatures so far.  Thank you for everything you are doing!

Stay tuned for details about our next meeting.