American Politics: Citizens push to end gerrymandering in Ohio

In 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed 3 lawsuits challenging legislative maps of Ohio that resulted in gerrymandered districts for 2024.

Ohio’s legislative maps which were drawn after the 2020 census have been described by applicants in the lawsuits as extremely partisan gerrymanders that favoured the Republican party, a situation they believe violates the Ohio state constitution.

Redistricting in Ohio is undertaken by the Ohio Redistricting Commission which is made up of elected officials with a Republican majority.

A campaign has therefore been launched by a group of Ohio citizens to collect signatures for an amendment of the state constitution to take away the power of district map drawing from elected officials.

Photograph: Favia Lucero

A panel discussion was held on Monday at the Ohio State University to discuss the impact of gerrymandering on political power, and the need for reforms before the November polls.

Speaking at this session a retired Ohio State Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor identified provisions in the previous amendment that limits the power of the people and enhances the power of the legislature.

The implementation of a new constitutional amendment on redistricting wouldn’t necessarily flip the political makeup of the state on its head, and it may not even change the majorities in the state, but it would bring Ohio’s partisanship down to levels that match voting trends, O’Connor argued.

Director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, Jen Miller expressed worry about the negative impact of gerrymandering on partisan elections in Ohio.

Photograph: Favia Lucero

“The biggest thing I get as a concern is once again the court would not have the power, or concern that there would still be loopholes, I’m proud to say that a lot of brilliant folks designed this policy to make sure that we have lots of guardrails, so that we can truly end gerrymandering”, She said.

Yurij Rudensky of the Brennan Center Democracy Program explained that the 2015 and 2018 measures weren’t reforms because they did not change anything. “Redistricting when done right should also consider how communities have shifted and what communities’ needs are when it comes to representation. Gerrymandering is the subversion and undermining of that process, he posited.”

Other speakers at the panel discussion, including political science professor Ange-Marie Hancock and law professor Steven Huefner stressed that the new measure would depart from previous redistricting reforms, by bringing about an independent commission to redraw the district maps.

The Citizens Not Politicians proposed amendment would replace politicians drawing maps with a citizen-commission
The speakers therefore called for support for the initiative by the coalition Citizens Not Politicians who developed the proposed ballot measure to undo voter-approved reforms made in 2015 and 2018 through separate constitutional amendments.

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