photo credit: Sophie Rogers
This year, Ohio voters will cast their ballots for their preferred choices for president, Senate and local House races on Nov. 5. On that same day, another vote will be at the booth: not for an actual person but rather a ballot initiative.
Over the summer, the group “Citizens, Not Politicians” achieved enough signatures to have their proposed initiative be on the ballot this November. The initiative, if passed, would replace the Ohio Redistricting Commission with a 15-member group of non-politician citizens, a group which would include an equal mix of political affiliation and representation in all areas within the state of Ohio, according to the Associated Press.
“Issue 1 would replace a seven-member commission of elected officials with a 15-member commission of residents,” State Government Reporter for The Columbus Dispatch Jesse Balmert said. “If approved by voters, the new commission cannot include elected officials, lobbyists or political consultants.”
The ballot initiative would also address the issue of gerrymandering, which is a political move in which a party draws congressional maps in ways to favor one party over the other. In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans in Ohio controlled about 66 percent of the state’s congressional districts and state house districts, while holding about 79 percent of the state Senate districts. These massive wins do not represent the overall vote share of the state however, as Democrats make up about 46 percent of the vote share in the state, while Republicans make up about 54 percent.
“Gerrymandering allows the minority to thwart the majority,” AP Government Teacher John Carmichael said. “It can give the minority party the ability to steer and control the government.”
The Ohio Redistricting Commission, a group of lawmakers and politicians, have overseen redistricting since being created in 2015 from another ballot initiative. However, with a partisan lean of five Republicans and two Democrats, the commission failed to produce fair maps ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
“The maps created via that process were ruled unconstitutional several times. The commission missed deadlines and voted on maps at the last minute,” Balmert said. “There weren’t strict penalties if the commission didn’t follow the rules.”
Delaware County, a mostly suburban county, voted for Trump by about eight percentage points in 2020, according to Politico. Despite this, the county is split between two districts that vote overwhelmingly Republican: The fourth district, represented by Jim Jordan, which contains Orange and Berlin Township, and the 12th, represented by Troy Balderson, which contains Genoa and Berkshire Township.
“Suburban voters in the fourth are lumped in with rural voters literally one county away from the Ohio border,” Carmichael said. “Those voters have no chance of winning, same for those suburban voters in the 12th district.
When it comes to the wording of the initiative, controversy has also spurred. Frank Larose, a Republican serving as Ohio’s Secretary of State, approved wording that misleadingly claims the initiative would repeal past protections against gerrymandering, according to the Associated Press. Litigation was filed against the wording of the measure, but the Ohio Supreme Court’s Republican majority mostly upheld the wording.
“Republicans approved ballot language that supporters of the measure said was unfair and confusing,” Balmert said. “The Ohio Supreme Court made Republicans make a few changes but was mostly OK with the wording.” If supporters of the initiative want to ensure its passing in November, work has to be done to get the message out about the true intentions of the initiative. In the potential that it passes, the worry of a voter regarding politicians muffling their views and interests by manipulating the maps may no longer remain a concern in future elections.
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