Some Cuyahoga County voters express confusion over Issue 1 language

11/1/2024 UPDATE: Why is ‘Issue 1′ confusing Ohio voters once they get their ballot?

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Some Cuyahoga County voters are saying the ballot language for Issue 1 is not straightforward.

First-time voter Trinity Pruitt, who cast her ballot on Wednesday, said do your research before heading to the polls.

“When I saw it was really long, it was two pages and I could see how someone gets confused reading it all,” Trinity said.

Issue 1 claims it will end gerrymandering, the process of unfairly drawing districts to favor a political party.

The group Citizens Not Politicians fought to get the measure on the ballot.

The bipartisan group wants to replace the current commission of seven and create a new commission with 15 citizens representing both major parties and independents.

“The argument I think is ludicrous that this does away with gerrymandering,” Gov. Mike DeWine said about Issue 1. “It creates more gerrymandering.”

Lauren Copeland with Baldwin Wallace’s Community Research Center talked about the language on the ballot.

“I suspect that not only given the term ‘gerrymander’ in the ballot language, but also the fact that the language is really long there’s a lot of text there, that it will be more likely for people to vote no than they would if it was clear that they were voting to make it so that taxpayer funded commission would be in charge of redistricting,” Copeland said.

Voter Garry Dubin read a sample ballot to see the language for Issue 1 while waiting in line to vote.

“The problem is there’s a lot of people who don’t really know what the issues are,” Dubin said. “They just see signs that say vote yes or vote no.”

Voter Deandrea Pruitt suggests listening to arguments on both sides before casting your vote.

“They’re speaking their truths on their side but the way the ballot is written to sound like you should vote no and it’s agreeing with people who say vote yes when in actuality it’s not which is why it’s so confusing,” Deandrea said.