Dear Editor:

This could forever change politics in the state of Ohio and the rest of the United States of America. Imagine if Columbus Ohio was the only city in the United States to elect their city officials via a proportional representation system. This could fix several things wrong with our current political system.

The signature threshold for a citizen petition next year could be low for Columbus, Ohio. I am planning to organize a citizen petition to bring approval voting to Columbus Ohio then proportional representation for city council seats. Here is the rough draft of the citizen petition based off the Fargo, North Dakota approval voting petition.

"An ordinance to amend the City of Columbus, Ohio Codified Ordinances to use approval voting as the only voting method for electing city officials of the City of Columbus, Ohio.

WHEREAS, the current voting method used is prone to vote splitting, and duverger's law. With approval voting, the voter can vote for a their prefered candidate and other approved candidates. The voter can support other candidates without the risk of taking away votes from their favorite candidate.

THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by initiative by the People of the City of Columbus,Ohio:

A new Ordinance to the Codified Ordinances of the City of Columbus,Ohio is created and enacted as follows:

SECTION 1:

Election procedures

A.    Methodology

    City officials will be elected so that each voter may vote for all the candidates the voter approves of in each race. Candidates receiving the most votes will be elected until all necessary seats are filled in each race.

B.   Ballot instructions

    For each race to elect city officials, the instructions on the ballot will instruct voters with the directions, “Vote for ALL the names you approve of,” with “ALL” being written in uppercase.

C.   Reporting of results

    For each candidate’s result in each race, reported vote percentages must be calculated by taking the number of votes for that candidate divided by the total ballots cast.

SECTION 2: The ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law."

Josh Jones