The redistricting proposal that could transform Ohio politics

A proposed constitutional amendment on Ohio’s 2024 ballot would permanently change the way congressional districts are drawn in the state.

Proposal No. 1 would create a staff of 15 Citizens Redistribution Commission— to draw district maps — made up of Democrats, Republicans and independents. Current and former politicians, political party officials and lobbyists would be barred from serving on the commission, and attempts to favor districts over a political party or legislator would be unconstitutional.

“Ohioans have lived with partisan gerrymandering for more than 80 years,” said the Rev. Terry Williams, an ordained minister. organized by Faith Choice Ohiois a religious advocacy group that supports abortion rights. “Both parties have governed our state at different times and in different ways, and every time a map is drawn, one thing always happens: our politicians are less accountable to those they are supposed to serve.”

Its members are current redeployment committee appointed by the governor, the secretary of state and the auditor, as well as the majority and minority leaders of the state house. Only two of them are Democrats.

In comparison, question 1 would require an open application procedure for committee membership. A screening committee of two Republican and two Democratic retired judges, each selected by Ohio legislative members of the voting commission, reviews and selects the applicants.

While there are currently no polls of what Ohio voters think about Question 1, other suggestions show that people in the state are more liberal when it comes to voting on ballot initiatives. For example, vote from here Baldwin Wallace University shows that 58 percent of voters supported enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution and 57 percent supported legalizing recreational marijuana. In Ohio, only a simple majority, just over 50 percent of voters, is needed to pass the amendments.

Ohio is one of the “most gerrymandered states” in the country, along with Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Research a Brennan Center found that 9 million Ohioans — about 77 percent of the state’s population — live in districts where there are no electoral contests when state representatives are elected. Half of them did not include a primary competition. Redistricting maps created by the Ohio Restricting Commission have been declared unconstitutional and rejected by the state’s Supreme Court on several occasions.

No. 1 was filed with the Secretary of State’s office more than 700,000 signatures— almost 60 percent more than needed to get on the state ballot — after receiving support from Citizens Not Politicians, the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters and labor organizations such as AFSCME and SEIU.

Rev. Williams singled out the anti-abortion measures as an example of how Ohio’s political leaders are ignoring voters. “At Faith Choice Ohio, we know that Ohioans do not support abortion bans, unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers, and laws that make life difficult for abortion seekers.” If Issue 1 is approved, the Reverend and his colleagues “hope to see an Ohio where the Legislature stops harassing abortion seekers and starts supporting them,” he said. “We believe fairness matters and gerrymandering is unholy.”

The Ohio GOP, which controls the state House, the state Supreme Court and the governor’s office, opposes the amendment. In March, the press secretary a Ohio Senate Majority Caucus He called it an “extremely complicated, cunning and radical system” that “sets up a citizen’s committee in place of your elected representative.” Governor Mike DeWine argued that the proposal would actually make gerrymandering worse. “If passed, this amendment would actually move Ohio to a system that requires — that forces — map agencies to create gerrymandered districts.”