COLUMBUS, Ohio – Attorney General Dave Yost has requested the Ohio Supreme Court to dismiss a filing by two members of the Ballot Board who were on the losing side of a recent vote.
Yost emphasized that allowing members who lost a vote to re-litigate in court undermines the democratic process, stating, “A multi-member body speaks through its majority vote.” He noted that while the court will still decide the issue, the members who did not prevail should not have another opportunity to contest the decision.
Yost argued that permitting such actions would set a precedent allowing any dissenting members of various public bodies to re-litigate their losses, which he believes would erode democratic institutions and the separation of powers.
The Attorney General’s Office is representing the five-member Ballot Board in a lawsuit challenging the recently approved ballot language for Issue 1, a proposed redistricting amendment. The lawsuit was filed by Citizens Not Politicians, the group behind Issue 1.
Following the state’s response to the lawsuit, state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson and state Rep. Terrence Upchurch, who voted against the ballot language, filed their own response, conflicting with the state’s legal defense.
Yost has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to strike this filing and reaffirm the legal precedent that a public body can only speak through a majority vote and that members on the losing side are not entitled to re-litigate their loss in court.
In their filing, state Rep. Terrence Upchurch (D-Cleveland) and state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo) detailed alleged legal malpractice by Attorney General Dave Yost and partisan behavior by Ballot Board chair Secretary of State Frank LaRose. They claimed that Yost’s refusal to allow outside counsel to represent the dissenting votes and his failure to seek input from them before a legal filing constituted ethically questionable behavior.
The filing argued that either the dissenting members should receive outside counsel to represent their interests, or the Attorney General should have communicated with them and considered their interests before filing an answer on their behalf. They also accused Secretary LaRose of drafting ballot language that purposely deceives and misleads voters on the Citizens Not Politicians anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment.
