The Ohio Ballot Board voted 3 to 2 on Friday to certify ballot language for a redistricting amendment to the Ohio Constitution on the November ballot. Supporters of the issue plan to challenge the wording saying it will deceive voters.
The board is a five-member panel including the Ohio secretary of state, two Republicans and two Democrats picked by lawmakers. Board members Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo, and Rep. Terrence Upchurch, D-Cleveland, voted against approving the language.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office proposed loaded ballot language for the redistricting reform measure, including references to manipulating the boundaries of legislative districts and repealing constitutional protections against gerrymandering.
The proposed ballot language for state Issue 1, distributed Thursday and obtained by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, paints a picture of a measure that encourages rather than curbs gerrymandering, defined as drawing lines to unfairly favor one political party over another.
House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said before the meeting that the language proposed by LaRose was more egregious than the proposed ballot language for the reproductive rights amendment Ohio voters passed last year.
“This is exactly why voters are trying to kick politicians out of the process. I mean, we're just seeing more of the same from this group and how they are trying to manipulate this process,” she said.
Don McTigue, an attorney with the ballot campaign, told the board that the language from the Secretary of State’s Office is false and misleading and specifically pointed out a phrase that said the commission is “required to manipulate the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts.”
McTigue said the Secretary of State’s Office could have chosen to say the commission will draw the maps rather than “manipulate the boundaries” as the word manipulate has a negative connotation.
In response, Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, LaRose and citizen member William Morgan voted to replace the word "manipulate" with "gerrymander."
Hicks-Hudson attempted twice to certify the language proposed by the ballot campaign instead, but both motions were voted down.
LaRose disagreed with Hicks-Hudson’s characterization of the proposed language as disingenuous.
“It is what I genuinely believe to be our best effort to faithfully summarize, truthfully summarize, a very long amendment for the voters,” he said.
Ohio Issue 1: Debate over proportionality at center of redistricting ballot measure
The language begins: "The proposed amendment would: Repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three-quarters of Ohio electors participating in the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018, and eliminate the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens to hold their representatives accountable for establishing fair state legislative and congressional districts."
Jen Miller, executive director with the League of Women Voters of Ohio, said the board has violated its duty to provide fair and impartial ballot langugage.
"Just like they rig our voting districts, they're rigging this language. They're trying to manipulate Ohio voters, and they're trying to manipulate the outcome of this election," she said after the meeting.
How did we get here?
Ohio's current method for drawing congressional and state legislative districts begins either with the GOP-controlled Ohio Legislature or a seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission, which currently includes five Republican politicians and two Democratic ones. A divided Ohio Supreme Court repeatedly rejected this commission's maps as unconstitutional gerrymandering , though the current statehouse maps were approved bipartisanly.
The newly proposed constitutional amendment would replace politicians with a 15-member citizen commission to draw congressional and state legislative districts. Retired judges would help select the panel of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independents who could not have close political ties.
Citizens Not Politicians, the campaign behind the amendment, circulated language to collect signatures and get the measure on the Ohio ballot. The committee recommended ballot language with five bullet points . But the Ohio Ballot Board wasn't required to use that language for the November ballot.
The ballot language, compiled by LaRose's office, spans three pages.
"We invited input from both sides of the issue, and we relied on language from the petition and the amendment itself. The final draft summary gives Ohioans a fair and factual understanding of the proposed amendment," LaRose spokesman Dan Lusheck said.
Details include:
- A 27-line description of the process for selecting members of the 15-member citizen commission.
- Emphasis on the cost of the new taxpayer-funded commission and "an unlimited amount for legal expenses."
- Language that the measure would "limit the right of Ohio citizens to freely express their opinions to members of the commission or to commission staff regarding the redistricting process or proposed redistricting plans."
Former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican who helped craft the amendment, said Citizens Not Politicians would sue if the draft ballot language is approved. She added that the language violates the Ohio Constitution's prohibition against wording designed to mislead, deceive or defraud the voters.
“The self-dealing politicians who have rigged the legislative maps now want to rig the Nov. 5 election by illegally manipulating the ballot language," O'Connor said.
The board is a procedural step for citizen-backed constitutional amendments, but it can also be a political one.
Last year, the group backing Ohio's reproductive rights amendment called ballot language approved by Republicans on the Ohio Ballot Board "propaganda." The Ohio Supreme Court ordered the board to tweak a portion of that language but most remained . Even so, Ohio voters approved the measure 57-43%.
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio .
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Ballot Board OKs language for redistricting issue; backers plan to challenge it
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