(The Center Square) – With a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would remove redistricting from politicians, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine wants the GOP-majority Statehouse to come up with a different solution.
DeWine said at a news conference Wednesday the current system needs to be changed, but the amendment would create more gerrymandering than is currently seen. He wants lawmakers to develop a new plan during the next legislative session.
“If this ballot proposal were to be adopted, Ohio would actually end up with a system that mandates map drawers to produce gerrymandered districts," DeWine said. "In fact, Ohio would have gerrymandering in the extreme. I believe we need to put an end to gerrymandering in Ohio once and for all. The only way to do this is to take politics completely out of drawing the maps. The current procedure does not work. It needs to be changed.”
DeWine wants a constitutional provision that says map drawers cannot consider partisan voting history, create maps based solely on population and attempt to keep political subdivisions whole.
DeWine pushed Iowa’s redistricting process, which requires counties to be kept together and, by law, cannot favor one political party, incumbent legislator, or member of Congress. Information about incumbents' addresses, voter registration by parties, previous election results, and most demographic data cannot be considered.
Democrats, however, called DeWine’s press conference the reason why the constitutional amendment made the ballot.
“Ohioans deserve leaders who reflect our values and live up to the promise that they’ll always respect the will of the voters,” said House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington. “Today was the governor’s manufactured attempt to confuse and misdirect voters from the truth. 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. Voters have shown out-of-touch politicians what happens when you play games with our democracy, and they’ll show them again in November.”
Citizens Not Politicians secured the ballot amendment by collecting nearly 200,000 more signatures than needed. The Ohio Ballot Board, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, will approve the ballot language.
Ohio Senate Majority Director of Communications John Fortney said the group pushing for passage of the amendment is using out-of-state money.
“The governor is correct about proportionality, also known as ‘representational fairness,’ it is the textbook definition of gerrymandering,” Fortney said. "If you hated the ‘Snake on the Lake,’ the so-called citizens' campaign will bring it back in a big way. ‘Political Outcomes Over People’ is prepared to spend more than $15 million in out-of-state dark money for reliable, fixed, gerrymandered wins for the far left, at the expense of Ohio voters and the Ohio Constitution."
Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, called DeWine’s plan an attempt to undermine the will of Ohio voters.
“Removing politicians from Ohio’s redistricting process is our only path to ensure fair maps in the future. We are Ohio, not Iowa,” Antonio said. “The governor’s proposal today appears to be another 11th-hour attempt to subvert the will of the people and keep a stranglehold on the GOP artificial supermajority. I look forward to amplifying the voice of the people, not politicians, in my total support of Issue 1 in November.”
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