Republican dominance of Ohio politics could be in danger if voters choose a new way of apportioning power in the state this November.
Reformers are pushing for major changes in the process of drawing the state’s legislative and congressional districts, also known as redistricting. It has become a hotly-debated topic throughout the United States. However, Ohio has a particularly strong connection to the issue, since its current maps were declared to be unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.
A prominent issue that has persisted with the redistricting process is the practice of “gerrymandering,” which allows politicians to manipulate their own district boundaries to benefit them.
Ohio is ranked as one of the most gerrymandered states, which places it in the center of the redistricting debate. Both chambers of the state legislature consist of more than two-thirds Republican members. This fact leads to frequent criticism that fair competition is almost nonexistent directly because of how Ohio’s districts are drawn.
The constitutional amendment on November’s ballot, commonly referred to as “Issue 1,” would completely change who controls the drawing of the state’s districts. It was written with the purpose of ending gerrymandering, according to its creators, “Citizens Not Politicians.”
Authored by the activist group, the amendment aims to replace the current redistricting process with a 15-member commission of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independents. Two members of each group must approve the district maps.
If voters approve the initiative, it will make Ohio the 11th state to have an independent commission for redrawing its congressional districts and the 12th state for its state legislative districts.
Until now, the state legislature has drawn district lines after each decennial census. This was true in Ohio until the last instance of map drawing after another ballot initiative, which reformed the procedure in the Ohio constitution, came into effect.
That initiative was put on the ballot in November 2015 and was approved by 71% of Ohio voters. It took control of redistricting the state’s legislative maps from the state legislature and gave it to a commission made up of Ohio’s governor, secretary of state, auditor and four members appointed by elected officials in both chambers of the state legislature.
Each of the four commission members appointed by the state legislature are chosen by one of the majority or minority leaders in the House of Representatives or the Senate. In order for the commission to approve a map, two members of the minority party must agree to do so.
The Ohio Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional and legislative maps multiple times after the most recent redistricting cycle.
A lengthy battle persisted as new maps continued to be submitted and subsequently rejected by the state’s highest judicial power. However, in the 2022 elections, both sets of maps were ultimately used after essentially running out the clock on drawing new lines.
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If Issue 1 passes in November, the maps declared unconstitutional will not be used again. The new redistricting commission will be formed and immediately tasked with drawing another set of state legislative and congressional lines to be used in the 2026 midterm elections.
Supporters and opponents of Issue 1 use anti-gerrymandering language in their arguments regarding the constitutional amendment. While the authors of the initiative have included the specific provision to “ban gerrymandering” in the language of the amendment, Ohio Republicans claim it will do the opposite.
The state party uses the phrase “stop gerrymandering” in their communications about the initiative and rented a bus with the phrase plastered across the front to campaign across the state.
The Ohio Republican Party emphasizes its perspective that Issue 1 will remove accountability from the redistricting process by removing elected officials. The state party views a potential problem with members not being directly chosen by voters in the replacement procedure.
Ohio Republicans stand to lose a lot if Issue 1 passes, as it could possibly decrease their seat number in both chambers of the state legislature. It also could complicate national Republicans’ chances of keeping the House of Representatives.
Ohio Republicans also voice opposition to the fact that the initiative is an amendment to the state constitution because some lawmakers see the multiple amendments to Ohio’s constitution in recent years as an overarching problem.
“I will say, putting a lot of this stuff in the constitution, I have a problem with,” Sara Carruthers said. “I think we are making a patchwork of our constitution.”
Carruthers represents Oxford in the Ohio House of Representatives, but earlier this year, she was narrowly defeated in the district’s Republican primary by conservative firebrand pastor Diane Mullins. Since she won’t be returning in January, she feels her perspective is unclouded by party politics.
“I’m not panicked about it because I’m not involved in this at this point,” Carruthers said.
The Ohio Democratic Party supports the passage of Issue 1, saying it will end gerrymandering in the state. Patrick Houlihan, the president of College Democrats of Ohio, said the initiative will provide a more accurate makeup of interests in state government.
“I feel like this is a great step towards having a fairer playing field, one that’s not dominated and fully controlled by one party,” Houlihan said.
Houlihan also expressed frustration over the adoption of anti-gerrymandering language by Ohio Republicans, saying it is an inaccurate representation of their goals.
“What they’re claiming is that it requires gerrymandering, and that’s just false,” Houlihan said, “it’s all a marketing ploy just to confuse people.”
Issue 1 is also supported by the League of Women Voters of Ohio, who highlighted redistricting as one of their key policy positions about governmental structure. The group’s communications coordinator, Elisabeth Warner, said the ballot measure is firmly in line with their goals for voter representation in Ohio.
“We have worked for meaningful redistricting reform for more than 40 years, and believe the proposed Citizens Not Politicians-written amendment will go a long way toward making Ohio’s elected officials fairly and accurately reflect the values and communities of their constituents,” Warner said.
Though Ohio’s two major parties are on drastically different sides of the debate on the upcoming ballot initiative, voters appear to be more united. A poll from early October found 60% of Ohio voters support the amendment.
A closer look into the poll’s findings reveals that 41% of Republicans surveyed would vote in favor of Issue 1. The revelation of a more bipartisan view of the amendment mirrors the coalition of voters that approved the previously mentioned redistricting ballot initiatives from 2015 and 2018.
“It will implement a pretty good system that hopefully should return a lot fairer maps, so I’m not surprised that 60% of Ohioans support it,” Houlihan said.
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