Editor's Note:
Today, the Our City, Our Say coalition submitted over 23,000 signatures for a petition to amend the Columbus charter so that only residents from each district will elect their member of Columbus City Council.
Currently, Columbus has city council districts in name only, electing all 9 city council members through at-large voting in citywide elections, a system that favors candidates selected by political insiders and backed by big money. However, Our City, Our Say is committed to building a system where every neighborhood and vote matters by putting the power in the hands of the people of Columbus.
“Submitting these signatures and getting this amendment on the ballot in November proves that organizing can overcome the entrenched power of concentrated wealth that has long dictated the terms of politics and governance in Columbus,” said Maitland Neff, a volunteer signature gatherer who collected over 1,500 signatures.
As an Our City, Our Say Coalition team member, former Columbus City Council candidate, and someone who worked on the previous City Council election reform campaigns, I want to be clear that the “product” created by Columbus City Council to design 9 districts in order to continue the undemocratic and corrupt control of power by means of continuing At-Large City Council elections was not a compromise.
(See Hardin's statement below)
Hardin never worked with the people to right this wrong. He and City Council knew exactly what they were doing and the power controlling At-Large system of Council elections would have continued forever unless the people came together to fight it.
Now Hardin and Doran’s are worried about losing control of hoarding their political power over the will of the people so they can continue bending a knee to developers and the city’s rich and powerful who fill their campaign coffers to put them in office.
Get on board or get out of the way!
