Attorney General Dave Yost has requested the Ohio Supreme Court to dismiss a filing by two Ballot Board members who lost a recent vote.
“If the losing members of a voting board can re-litigate their loss in court, we don’t have a democracy, we have government by judiciary,” Yost stated. “A multi-member body speaks through its majority vote.”
Yost emphasized that while the issue will still be decided by the court, the non-prevailing board members should not get “a second bite at the apple.”
“Who else is entitled to re-litigate their losses after debate, hearing and vote?” Yost questioned in his request. “Members of the General Assembly? All of them? What about members of City or Village Councils? Members of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority? The county budget commission? The dissenting members of a public university board of trustees? Such a policy would destroy democratic institutions and the separation of powers by substituting the judiciary for all forms of government. This must not stand.”
As legal counsel for the Ballot Board, the Attorney General’s Office is defending the five-member board in a lawsuit challenging recently approved ballot language for Issue 1, a proposed redistricting amendment set for a November vote. Citizens Not Politicians, which supports Issue 1, initiated the lawsuit against the Ballot Board.
Two days after the state filed its response to this suit, state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson and state Rep. Terrence Upchurch – who voted against the ballot language – submitted their own conflicting response.
Today, Yost asked the Ohio Supreme Court to strike this filing and sought an opinion reaffirming that a public body can only speak through a majority vote. He argued that members on the losing side of such votes are not entitled to re-litigate their positions in court.
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Dominic Binkley: 614-728-4127