CHICAGO — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine doesn’t think the state redistricting process works, suggesting Ohio follows a similar process to Iowa, so Ohio Democratic legislators discussed redistricting plans with their peers from the Hawkeye state.
“I am very proud of Ohio people for coming up with a very unique plan that has pulled together some of the best practices from Iowa and from other states that they believe is going to produce a very Ohio-unique plan that will truly give Ohio citizens a redistricting plan that represents its population in a very fair way,” Iowa state Sen. Pam Jochum (D., Dubuque) said at a news conference at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.
Ohio citizens will vote in November on a redistricting amendment that would create a 15-member commission tasked with redrawing congressional and state legislative maps. The commission would include five Republicans, five Democrats, and five Independents. None of the members can be an elected official, politician, family member, staffer, lobbyist, or major campaign contributor — a rule that hopes to eliminate gerrymandering.
The Republican-majority Ohio Ballot Board approved Friday the language for the amendment that will appear on the ballot in a vote of 3-2, but it was met with a lawsuit. The campaign group for the issue, Citizens Not Politicians, filed the suit with the Republican-majority Ohio Supreme Court, hoping the ballot board will be forced to rework the language.
“I was present on Friday when the ballot board decided to present the ballot language, which in my experience within the last three or four years, was an abysmal attempt to put their finger on the balance so that voters would vote no,” state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo) said. “The language was so egregious that there was no attempt to be balanced, to be fair.”
In Iowa, the state relies on U.S. Census Bureau data to divide the congressional district into equal populations. Within the congressional districts, there are also equal numbers of Senate and House districts. The state’s legislative service bureau, which is made up of nonpartisan civil servants, creates a map based on the data.
Iowa’s legislature cannot alter it — only vote for or against it. If it’s voted down, the legislature has to provide a letter to the service bureau about why it was rejected. The service bureau then has 35 days to come up with a new plan. If it fails again, the service bureau can create a third plan, which can be altered by the legislature.
In the 44 years this process has been in place, Ms. Jochum said, the legislature has not had a third plan for fear of both parties being accused of gerrymandering. If a third plan did not pass, it would be up to the Iowa Supreme Court to redraw the lines.
“I can say it has worked well for us, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to work well for every state, and I applaud the state of Ohio and its citizens for what they have come up with,” Ms. Jochum said.
She added that population size is one of the main reasons why she doesn’t think it will work in Ohio. While Iowa has about 3.2 million people, Ohio has around 11.5 million with larger urban cities, making redistricting based on census numbers difficult.
If the amendment passes, Ohio would become the eighth state to have an independent citizen commission redistricting the state. Arizona has had an independent commission since 2000, and state Sen. Priya Sundareshan (D., Tucson) said voting participation has since significantly increased.
“In that year, 71 percent of Arizonans voted in the general election,” Ms. Sundareshan said. “Since then, participation has increased to a record high of nearly 80 percent turnout in 2020.”
Ms. Sundareshan acknowledged that it has not been perfect but has prevented politicians from drawing themselves in their own favorable districts. However, Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams (R., Sylvania Township), said the state’s ballot issue will do just that if passed.
“It removes the requirement that we keep communities together, instead placing an emphasis on proportionality, essentially trying to create over a dozen new Democrat districts by taking portions of communities and stretching them out to other communities to try to form Democrat-leaning districts,” Mr. Williams said. “That is essentially the definition of gerrymandering.”
If the amendment passes, the final maps would have to correspond with the general voting preferences demonstrated in prior statewide elections. Mr. Williams said this will give Democrats the opportunity to get more districts to be equivalent to the Republican districts.
“The only way to do that is to go into the five major metropolitan Democrat districts, cut them up into a pie, drag them into the suburbs and essentially divide up inner city Black communities in order to try to establish more Democratic districts,” he said.
If the ballot issue is approved in November, the amendment will become effective 30 days after the election. It is the only statewide issue on the general election ballot.
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