The Redistricting Proposal That Could Transform Ohio Politics 

A proposed constitutional amendment on Ohio’s 2024 ballot would permanently change how congressional districts in the state are drawn. 

The proposal, titled Issue 1, would create a 15-member Citizens Redistricting Commission—made up of Democrats, Republicans, and independents—to draw district maps. Current and former politicians, political party officials, and lobbyists would be banned from sitting on the commission, and attempts to draw districts in a way that favor one political party or lawmaker would be made unconstitutional.

“Ohioans have lived with partisan gerrymandering for more than 80 years,” said the Rev. Terry Williams, an ordained minister and an organizer with Faith Choice Ohio, a religious advocacy group that advocates for abortion rights. “Both parties have gerrymandered our state at different times in different ways, and each time gerrymandered maps are drawn, one thing always happens: Our politicians become less accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.”

Members of the current Redistricting Commission are appointed by the governor, the secretary of state, and the auditor, along with the majority and minority leaders in the statehouse. Of those, only two are Democrats. 

Comparatively, Issue 1 would require an open application process for membership of the commission. A screening panel of two Republican and two Democratic retired judges—each chosen by the legislative members of the Ohio Ballot Board—would review and select applicants. 

While there is currently no polling on what Ohio voters think of Issue 1, other proposals have shown that those in the state skew more liberal when voting on ballot initiatives. For example, polling from Baldwin Wallace University shows that 58 percent of voters favored enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution, and 57 percent supported legalizing recreational marijuana. In Ohio, amendments need only a simple majority to pass, or just over 50 percent of voters.

Ohio is considered one of the “most gerrymandered states” in the country, along with Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Research from the Brennan Center found that 9 million Ohioans—around 77 percent of the state’s population—live in districts where the election for state representative lacks electoral competition. Of those, half featured no primary contest. Redistricting maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission have been declared unconstitutional—and rejected—by the state Supreme Court on several occasions. 

Issue 1 was submitted to the secretary of state’s office with over 700,000 signatures—almost 60 percent more than required to get on the state ballot—after receiving support from Citizens Not Politicians, the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women voters, and labor organizations like AFSCME and the SEIU.

Reverend Williams specifically highlighted anti-abortion measures as an example of disregard for voters by Ohio’s political leaders. “At Faith Choice Ohio, we know Ohioans don’t support abortion bans, needless restrictions on abortion providers, and laws that make the lives of abortion seekers harder.” If Issue 1 is approved, the reverend and his colleagues “hope to see an Ohio where the legislature stops bullying abortion seekers and starts supporting them,” he said. “We believe fairness matters & gerrymandering is unholy.”

The Ohio GOP, which controls the statehouse, the state Supreme Court, and the governor’s office, opposes the amendment. In March, the press secretary of the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus called it an “exceedingly complex, harebrained, and radical scheme” that would “install a citizen’s commission to replace your elected representative.” Governor Mike DeWine claimed that the proposal would actually make gerrymandering worse. “If this amendment were to be adopted, Ohio would actually end up with a system that mandates—that compels—map drawers to produce gerrymandered districts.”