Columbus DSA

This Saturday, May 16th from 10am - 3pm, we will be in German Village canvassing Village Valuables! Join us to help gather signatures for our amendment to create a real District system and bring democracy to Columbus City Council elections!

We will meet out front of the Schiller Community Center (1069 Jaeger St), come by to help at any time! There will be canvass leads posted up near the entrance the whole time.

We’ll have a brief training, so no experience required!

Sign up here: https://secure.ngpvan.com/n2Ypv4GnskKC3tT1aZgDzQ2

Columbus City Council’s Attempt to Co-Opt Our City, Our Say Ballot Initiative

A statement from our Creating Democracy in Columbus Campaign
https://www.columbusdsa.org/2026/05/04/columbus-city-councils-attempt-to-co-opt-our-city-our-say-ballot-initiative/

Today Columbus City Council is hosting a “community conversation” on the current voting system for City Council Districts. Since last spring, Columbus DSA has led the actual community conversation in Columbus on the issue of City Council Districts. Residents are sick and tired of their elected officials ignoring their neighborhood concerns while turning around and giving billionaires anything they want without question. The recent McCoy Park debacle exposes just this: the interests of the billionaire class are served over those of the residents of this city. And we saw City Council respond in their usual way: deflecting blame and performative response while maintaining the status quo. Today is no different.

Columbus’ current City Council voting system is a farce, the so-called “Districts” in this model are an illusion having no actual impact. Because we maintain at-large voting, requiring a candidate to win votes across the entire city and not just their “District”, these “Districts” could simply not exist and the outcome of the elections would be the same, as we saw in November.

At-large voting favors the well-funded and those in power at the expense of real community representation. It is why most cities have abandoned at-large elections for city council seats. Columbus is one of the very few cities of its size in this country still using this archaic system.

Our proposal is simple: eliminate at-large voting and make the Districts real. In order to represent a District, you must win the election in just that District. This gives neighborhoods a real say in who represents them in city government and makes candidates answerable to their neighbors.

We are happy to see the issue has captured Council’s attention, but we should set the record straight as to what is actually going on today: an attempt to co-opt a citizen-led initiative to build our own power. Council is not holding this hearing for the working people of this city but for their own benefit.

If Council truly cares about the District issue, they should drop the pretenses and just let us get on with our good work. We don’t want to see Council attempt to redirect this energy into any proposal retaining at-large seats. We don’t want to see any competing proposals that would confuse voters. The Our City Our Say coalition is working towards a simple true-districts amendment for this November’s election. We look forward to winning real representation for the people of Columbus!

Join us from noon - 4pm at Scioto Audubon Metro Park (400 W Whittier St), to gather signatures for our amendment to create real Districts for Columbus City Council elections, at the Earth Day Celebration hosted by Green Columbus.

There will be canvass leads posted up near the restrooms (pointed out in the second image) the whole time, stop there first when you arrive to get materials.

We’ll have a brief training, so no experience required! Come by to help at any time, all are welcome!