Redistricting proposals that could change Ohio politics

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Ohio’s 2024 voting constitutional amendment would permanently change how the state’s congressional districts are drawn.

The proposal, titled “Issue 1,” would create a 15-member Citizens’ Redistricting Commission made up of Democrats, Republicans, and independents to draw district maps. Current and former politicians, party officials, and lobbyists are prohibited from serving on the commission, and any attempt to draw electoral districts in a way that favors a particular political party or member of Congress is unconstitutional.

“Ohioans have lived with partisan gerrymandering for more than 80 years,” said Terry Williams, an ordained minister and organizer with Faith Choice Ohio, a religious advocacy group that advocates for abortion rights. the pastor speaks. “Both parties have gerrymandered this state at different times and in different ways. And every time a gerrymandered map is drawn, one thing always happens: our politicians are the ones who serve It means that we are losing our responsibility to the people.”

Members of the current redistricting commission are appointed by the governor, secretary of state, and comptroller, along with the majority and minority leaders of the state legislature. Only two of them are Democrats.

By comparison, issue 1 requires an open recruitment process to become a member of the committee. A panel of two retired judges, one Republican and one Democratic, chosen by the Legislative Members of the Ohio Ballot Commission, will review and select applicants.

There are currently no polls being conducted on what Ohio voters think about Issue 1, but other proposals suggest that voters in the state lean more liberal when voting on ballot initiatives. shown. For example, a Baldwin Wallace University poll found that 58 percent of voters supported enshrining the right to abortion in the state constitution, and 57 percent supported legalizing recreational marijuana. In Ohio, amendments only require a simple majority, or just over 50 percent of voters, to pass.

Ohio is considered one of the most gerrymandered states in the country, along with Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. According to research by the Brennan Center, 9 million Ohioans, or about 77 percent of the state’s population, live in less competitive state legislative races. Of these, half had no primary contest. Zoning maps created by the Ohio Zoning Commission have been declared unconstitutional and rejected several times by the state Supreme Court.

The first issue, with support from Citizens Not Politicians, the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, and labor unions, was filed by the Secretary of State with more than 700,000 signatures, nearly 60 percent more than the number of signatures required for state ballots. submitted to the room. organizations such as AFSCME and SEIU;

Reverend Williams specifically highlighted anti-abortion measures as an example of Ohio’s political leaders ignoring voters. “At Faith Choice Ohio, we know that Ohioans do not support abortion bans, unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers, or laws that make life difficult for those seeking abortions.” If the issue is approved, the pastor and his colleagues “hope to see Ohio where the Legislature stops bullying abortion seekers and starts supporting them,” he said. “We believe that fairness is important and that gerrymandering is unclean.”

The Ohio Republican Party, which controls the state Legislature, the state Supreme Court and the governor’s office, opposes the amendment. In March, a spokesperson for the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus called it a “very complicated, unintelligent, and radical plan” to “create a citizens’ committee to replace elected officials.” Gov. Mike DeWine argued that the proposal would actually worsen gerrymandering. “If this amendment were adopted, Ohio would actually end up with a system that would require, or force, map makers to create gerrymandered districts.”