Political leaders voice support, concerns for citizen-led redistricting

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ballots will be packed with several high-profile races this fall, and that now includes a redistricting amendment put forward by a coalition called Citizens Not Politicians .

The amendment, if passed in November, would create a 15-person redistricting commission entirely composed of citizens: five democrats, five Republicans and five Independents. That contrasts with the current seven-person Ohio Redistricting Commission, which voters also approved less than ten years ago, made entirely of politicians.

“When politicians and lobbyists get to rig maps, it harms every Ohio voter and our democracy,” Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio Jen Miller said. “Citizens Not Politicians will make sure that maps are made by everyday people and will fairly represent all of us. This is about restoring balance and fairness and transparency in mapping so that we have truly responsive lawmakers.”

“The group in favor of this has branded themselves as citizens and not politicians, which, frankly, I don’t think is true at all. I think it’s I think it’s the reverse of that,” Republican strategist Matt Dole said. “It’s being led by Maureen O’Connor and other liberal activists who have an interest in in changing the map for the good of Democrats in the state of Ohio.”

Maureen O’Conner, who is highly involved in the Citizens not Politicians campaign, is a retired Republican Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice.

The 2024 redistricting question will be the third one in less than ten years. In 2015 Ohioans approved the current system overwhelmingly, with more than 71% of the vote.

“This campaign should be called political outcomes over people,” a spokesperson for Ohio Senate Republicans John Fortney said. “It is designed to gerrymander guaranteed political wins for the progressive left with no accountability to the more than 70% of voters who approved the current system that produced a unanimous bipartisan set of maps for the General Assembly.”

Four of the seven members on the current redistricting commission rely on district lines for their re-election. The commission has had seven maps ruled unconstitutional, but their latest effort resulted in the passage of bi-partisan maps. That is why — despite the coalition receiving more than half a million valid signatures from Ohioans across the state — some say the current system works just fine.

“We have elected officials who face term limits and I think citizens have an oversight right now. If they don’t like the results, they can vote out those who drew the maps,” Dole said. “I think the proof of them working is again, last year, the state maps being approved unanimously by Republicans and Democrats on the redistricting commission.”

“The politicians and the Ohio Redistricting Commission ignored the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Supreme Court that struck these maps down seven times,” Miller said. “Right now, there is absolutely no accountability in the system.”

But Miller said this is not a Democrat versus Republican issue. She said the effort to asked voters if they want a citizen-led redistricting commission started decades ago “when the Democrats were the ones rigging the maps.”

“I had signature collectors who’ve been doing this since the ’80s when the Ohio Republican Party endorsed our ballot initiatives and the Democrats opposed,” she said. “And so, to finally get to a point where we know that we can end partisan gerrymandering by restoring power to Ohio voters through Citizens Not Politicians is just incredibly exciting.”

Miller said the campaign for those in favor of the amendment is straight forward.

“Everyday people from across Ohio creating fair, impartial districts through a transparent process. This will ultimately end partisan gerrymandering because those making the maps aren’t trying to get reelected,” Miller said. “This is a really simple message. It’s about restoring power to the people of Ohio through a citizen led commission that also has party balance.”

There is no official coalition opposing the issue yet, but will likely form in the coming weeks. Dole said it may be a challenge, but not an uphill battle, to spread the opposition’s message “because there’s nuance involved.”

He said when he thinks of why Ohioans should be opposed, he points to other independent redistricting commissions, like the one in Michigan.

“It’s sort of the same model that the group in Ohio used, and the maps created by that process were declared in violation of the Voting Rights Act by federal courts and they had to start over. This is bad governance in addition to bad politics,” he said. “The Voting Rights Act requirements are at stake.”

Meanwhile, Governor Mike DeWine has yet to take a firm stance on this amendment. The governor has said several times that, “in principle,” he does support an independent redistricting commission by citizens. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, DeWine said as far as specifics for this amendment go, “I’ll have something to say shortly about that.”

“I’ve looked at this, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it and trying to really understand what it would do,” DeWine said. “I’ve also looked at what other states have done, so stay tuned.”

The Ohio Ballot Board will likely meet in the coming weeks to set both the title and the language that Ohioans will see on their ballots this fall. Both the opposition and support for the amendment will also write arguments that voters will be able to read before they vote both online and at the polls.

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