COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio's redistricting and gerrymandering drama could come to an end under a newly-proposed constitutional amendment.
The nonpartisan coalition Citizens Not Politicians has collected more than the 1,000 signatures they need to start the process of putting a constitutional amendment on the November 2024 ballot. In fact, just in a weekend, the group collected 7,300 from 31 different counties, according to spokesperson Chris Davey.
Redistricting drama has caused the state millions of dollars, lawsuits and seven different Ohio Supreme Court rulings that were ignored.
"We can't have politicians in charge of this," State Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) said.
In Ohio, lawmakers who can directly benefit from district and congressional maps are the ones who draw them. This isn't fair, Smith said.
The majority of other states haven't had the amount of map-drawing drama that Ohio has. Michigan, for example, has a nonpartisan independent citizen redistricting commission.
News 5 reported on Michigan's solution in March of 2022 while the state was dealing with constant turmoil due to unconstitutional maps, and that's the model that the group followed in crafting their proposed amendment.
RELATED: Michigan — yes, Michigan — may hold the solution to Ohio's future redistricting problems
The amendment
The proposal creates the 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (OCRC) made up of Republican, Democratic and independent citizens who broadly represent the different geographic areas and demographics of the state.
It bans current or former politicians, political party officials, lobbyists and large political donors from sitting on the commission.
It requires fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor any political party or individual politician. It also mandates the commission to operate under an open and independent process.
"Crafting maps that reflect the actual political makeup of the state would be very beneficial to the citizens of the state," Smith said.
Read the full amendment below:
Full Redistricting Petition Text by Wews WebStaff on Scribd
Current law
The Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) is made up of seven spots. Two will always go to Republicans and two to Democrats in the Statehouse. The three remaining seats include the governor, secretary of state and auditor.
Senate President Matt Huffman said in May that the leaders are gearing up to draw the maps.
"We would start in earnest after June 30, have hearings and all of the other negotiations and things that are to be done and to try to have a map by mid-September," Huffman said.
The proposed reform is not needed or wanted, Huffman's spokesperson John Fortney said.
“So-called citizen-led commissions are anything but that; they are proxy votes and puppets of partisan special interest groups,” Fortney said.
Redistricting laws changed in 2018. There was a huge outcry to combat gerrymandering in the years leading up to that election.
By a nearly 75-25% vote, Ohioans chose a new redistricting system, one that was supposed to prevent supermajority power from dictating maps.
"Voters passed the amendments to the Constitution establishing Article 11 and Article 19," Fortney said. "Each limit splits and requires compact districts and an increased minority party vote to pass a ten-year map."
However, this system could still be exploited, voting rights advocates said.
The House map has a 54-46 GOP advantage, legal professors analyzed. The Senate has an 18-15. Nearly 20 of the Democratic House districts and about 10 in the Senate are considered political toss-ups. None of the Republican districts are.
In a one-on-one interview with former Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor in December, she discussed how ruling seven separate times that GOP-backed redistricting maps were unconstitutional and gerrymandered earned scorn and resistance from the party that once championed her.
The GOP "mischaracterized what [redistricting reform] really was and how it would be administered," O'Connor told News 5. "I don't think the public would have bought it if that would have been understood."
O'Connor had to retire due to her age, so now she is exchanging her spot on the bench for a spot in the political field.
“When politicians draw biased, often ridiculously-shaped districts to favor their own political interests, that’s gerrymandering,” she said in the OCRC press release. “Ohio is one of the country’s most gerrymandered states, and even today, is operating under maps deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court. This proposal would end gerrymandering by empowering citizens, not politicians, to draw fair districts using an open and independent process."
The Supreme Court called out Huffman for being the ringleader in ignoring anti-gerrymandering laws, but Huffman argued that the court was overstepping and being unclear.
The majority of the court repeatedly asked the GOP to stop submitting unconstitutional maps, resharing guidelines that show districts need to be competitive, but not just for Democratic seats.
In a one-on-one with Governor Mike DeWine in November, he addressed the redistricting drama.
"If you look at the majority of Supreme Court decisions that have been handed down, they've made it more difficult, frankly," the governor said.
DeWine said this goes directly against the original rules of competitiveness.
"I think that's a problem, and I think sometimes that has been missed," he added. "How do we fix that?”
RELATED:Gov. DeWine addresses redistricting drama, shares priorities for next term in one-on-one interview
The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court on the congressional map, sending it back for reconsideration, Fortney noted.
"The redistricting commission will soon convene to produce new maps for the house and senate districts, the special interests want to play by a new set of rules drawn by a so-called citizen-led commission, which is code for proxy votes for D.C. special interests," the spokesperson added.
Independent redistricting commissions are independent, Smith argued. The lawmaker is excited about the proposal and said it is long overdue.
"These maps do not reflect the political makeup of the state," he said.
What's next
The Attorney General has 10 days to determine if the petition and summary are a fair and truthful statement of the proposed constitutional amendment. Once the petition is certified, the AG forwards it to the Ohio Ballot Board, which has 10 days to determine if it contains only one constitutional amendment.
After Ballot Board certification, the AG must file a verified copy of the proposed constitutional amendment and summary, along with the AG's certification, with the Ohio Secretary of State.
At that point, the petitioners may begin to collect the required 413,487 valid signatures of registered voters by July 3, 2024 to qualify for the 2024 Ohio General Election Ballot.
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