A redistricting amendment on Ohio's fall ballot has the backing of some of Ohio's top lawyers and legal scholars.
Voters First, the committee backing the November issue, released an open letter Thursday signed by a dozen Ohio lawyers, including a former state bar association president.
Signers stand behind the amendment's legal framework, which the Ohio Bar Association has opposed.
The proposal would transfer control over Ohio's congressional and legislative maps from the state Legislature and Apportionment Board to a 12-member citizen commission. Members of the new panel would be chosen from a pool selected by appellate judges.
The nonpartisan bar association has said the process raises conflict-of-interest concerns for participating judges.
The amendment's opponents said the letter's signers are not unbiased, but vote and donate exclusively to Democrats.