DeWine proposes redistricting reform, but not current ballot initiative

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) – Gov. Mike DeWine is calling for redistricting reform in Ohio but is not in favor of a proposal that will be on ballots this fall.

“My current experience with our current procedure is that it simply does not work very well, it needs to be changed,” DeWine said. “It needs to be changed. Now, there will be an amendment on this fall’s ballot to change the Ohio Constitution in a way its proponents say would eliminate gerrymandering in Ohio. It doesn’t.”

The current process puts seven elected officials on the redistricting commission; its current makeup, though fluid, is five Republicans and two Democrats. This fall, voters will see a redistricting amendment ballot initiative brought forward by a group called Citizens not Politicians. If passed in November, the proposal would create a 15-person redistricting commission entirely composed of citizens: five Democrats, five Republicans and five Independents.

DeWine said the passage of the amendment would result in the “writing and re-writing” of the state’s constitution, which voters have overwhelmingly changed twice in the past 10 years with redistricting reform.

“I’m afraid that if this amendment passes, in a relatively short time after the voters see the results, see the districts that have been produced, voters would once again demand change and would be even more disillusioned with the whole mess,” DeWine said.

In a statement, retired Republican Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, who is backing the proposal, called DeWine’s statements “disinformation.”

“[It] is insulting to everyone in Ohio, and especially insulting to the half a million Ohioans — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — who put the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment on the November ballot,” she said.

There are several guidelines in the amendment, including the use of proportionality, where it states, “to ban partisan gerrymandering and prohibit the use of redistricting plans that favor one political party and disfavor others, the statewide proportion of districts in each redistricting plan that favors each political party shall correspond closely to the statewide partisan preferences of the voters of Ohio.”

And DeWine said the use of “proportionality” when drawing maps, as is in the proposed amendment, prioritizes the use of previous statewide election results. He said no matter who draws the maps, he believes that criteria will result in “the worst gerrymandering we’ve ever seen.”

“Using proportionality as your guiding North Star means your map will divide communities of interest,” he said. “They will tear up counties, tear up cities, tear up villages and even school districts. Proportionality sounds great, but when you peel back the onion, when you open it up, is a horror story inside.”

“We’re done listening to self-serving politicians tell us how they want to keep rigging the game. On to November,” O’Connor said.

DeWine, instead, want lawmakers to put a new proposal on the ballot, modeled after a system in Iowa.

“I believe the Iowa system provides us with an example of a system that takes politics out of map drawing,” he said. “Map drawings under the Iowa plan prohibit it. They are prohibited from looking at past voting patterns. The Iowa system is clean. It is simple.”

“Republicans are desperate because they know their gerrymandered grip on power is coming to an end, so they’re once again attacking Ohioans’ fundamental freedoms and putting their own self-interest ahead of the interest of the people,” Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said.

DeWine said he is particularly drawn to Iowa’s system because the only data used is census data, rather than using criteria like an elected official’s address, previous voting patterns, or other factors that DeWine said lead to partisan drawing.

“The Iowa criteria makes it impossible for someone legally following the Constitution to use partisan politics,” he said. “They are prohibited from looking at these numbers.”

Under the “Iowa Plan,” as DeWine called it, the state legislature must ultimately approve maps drawn by the commission. DeWine said Ohio’s system would not have to directly mirror Iowa’s, but thinks it is best for the state.

“Removing politicians from Ohio’s redistricting process is our only path to ensure fair maps in the future,” Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) wrote in a statement. “We are OHIO, not Iowa.”

DeWine said he will urge lawmakers in January to put the issue on ballot through a resolution.

“If the legislature does not do this, I will do everything I can to get it on the ballot by initiative,” DeWine said. “So that’s the backup plan.”

NBC4 asked DeWine if he would still move ahead with his plan to put the “Iowa Plan” on the ballot even if voters do approve the Citizens not Politicians amendment in November.

“That’s possible. I wouldn’t rule that out. I wouldn’t rule that out,” DeWine said. “I mean, look, I think when people see these maps, they’re not going to be happy with these maps.”

“For nearly a year, we have been publicly collecting signatures in all 88 counties and now – 97 days before the election – he tells Ohioans that he and his friends in the legislature are already scheming to overturn what voters will pass in November,” O’Connor said.

DeWine said what he is trying to do is educate Ohioans about the proposal before they go to the polls but did not elaborate about what his involvement would be on the opposition campaign.

“Here’s what I’m doing today. I’m starting this debate. I’m starting a discussion. This is a discussion we need to have with the people of Ohio,” he said.

“Since the Governor demonstrated in his rambling and disjointed press conference today that he does not understand our amendment, I am offering to sit down and meet with him to explain it,” O’Connor said.

Despite rumors and DeWine’s urge for a different proposal, the governor did not call lawmakers back for a special session. DeWine said he did not call a special session because the deadline to get a competing proposal on the ballot is in one week, Aug. 7, and he does not believe there is “support in the House to do that” and by waiting until next year, things can be vetted.

“I’m trying to vet it today a little bit, but the advantage of waiting is that we will, then I will make that proposal and then they’ll be hearings and we’ll have a vetting,” he said. “And people can come in and say, ‘Well, it doesn’t work this way,’ or they’ll try that, and you could go through the normal process. But I will be insisting that the legislature produce something and that they put it, they put it on the ballot.”

“We have less than 100 days to unite and show voters why Issue 1 is bad for Ohio,” Speaker of the Ohio House Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) wrote in a statement. “I look forward to working with the Governor, the Senate, and the entire GOP Caucus to defeat Issue 1 in November. Once Issue 1 is defeated, we will continue to work to ensure all Ohioans’ voices are heard and represented.”

DeWine used his authority to call a special session last month and was the first governor to do so since 2004.

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