Ballot Issue

The Our City Our Say Coalition says no deal was reached with city council to compromise.

Organizers with Our City Our Say submitted more than 23,000 signatures, hoping to force a vote this November to change how Columbus City Council members get elected.

The community college says it is considering asking Franklin County voters to approve a 10-year, 1.9-mill levy that would generate $95 million annually.

The proposed change would make it so only voters within each of Columbus' nine districts vote for their council member.

Issue 5 creates a team to send trained, non-police responders to emergency calls that don't involve a weapon or intent to harm. The amendment had no organized opposition.

Issue 5 on the May 5 primary ballot asks voters if they want to establish a team of clinicians and social workers to respond to non-violent crises in place of police officers.

Rob Dorans wants a system with a mix of both 'at-large' council members elected by the whole city and district representatives that are only elected by voters within certain boundaries. The current system only has at-large council members with a district residency requirement.

Both proposals would require the nine city council members to only get votes from within their districts rather than city wide. Jonathan Beard's idea also aims to create a new district map, arguing the current map racially gerrymanders the districts to be mostly white.

Councilmember Tiara Ross won November's election citywide, while her opponent Jesse Vogel won the most votes in council district 7. That's what both proposals seek to change.

Columbus City Council came to an agreement that would put a ballot issue on November's ballot to create an alternative crisis response team. The city negotiated the terms with the Columbus Safety Collective on the group's proposal before coming to an agreement.