Elector sought writ of mandamus to compel city and county board of elections to remove proposal to amend city charter from ballot, and subsequently sought to amend to name Secretary of State as respondent.
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that ballot summary language regarding change of voting system for city council members conveyed adequate information to voters.
Ballot summary language of proposed amendment to city charter to change voting system for city council members from “at large” to “at-large by-place” system, which stated that members would be “elected from districts by the electors of the city,” conveyed enough information for voters to know what they were being asked to vote on, and thus was adequate, though objecting elector asserted that it did not explain that voters would cast ballots in all council races, including those for representatives in districts where they did not reside; summary language conveyed the important information that members would come from districts, but they would be elected “by the electors of the city,” which would not lead a reasonable reader to believe that members would be elected exclusively by voters in their residency districts.