COLUMBUS - The ACLU of Ohio filed a lawsuit Tuesday, July 6, 2021 seeking an Ohio Supreme Court order to compel the release of public records.
On February 4, 2021, Policy Strategist Collin Marozzi filed a public records request to the Ohio House of Representatives for documents relating to Ohio’s redistricting process. Five months later, several top officials still have not complied with their clear duty, under Ohio public records law, to provide these records.
“Despite repeated requests by the ACLU of Ohio, the three highest level officials and staffers in the Ohio House have, for over 5 months, defied their duty to provide any public records relating to Ohio’s redistricting. Two others have intoned unsupported objections. Disappointingly, the level of secrecy and resistance put forth by these public servants echoes the Bunker mentality they exhibited in Ohio’s last redistricting - which our new Constitutional provisions are intended to remedy,” noted Freda Levenson, Legal Director for the ACLU of Ohio. “That we needed to go to court to compel these records does not bode well for a transparent map-drawing process this time around. This fortifies our resolve to make sure that the process is open and fair this time, and that it results in maps that are fair and constitutional. Otherwise, we will be prepared to go to court again."
