The Ohio Secretary of State’s office is proposing loaded ballot language for a redistricting reform measure on the November ballot

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office is proposing loaded ballot language for a 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.

Ohio Issue 1:Debate over proportionality at center of redistricting ballot measure

Backers of the amendment say this language would deceive voters. The Ohio Secretary of State’s office says it’s a fair and accurate summary.

The draft 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.”

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 draft 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.”

On Friday morning, the Ohio Ballot Board will meet to approve the language that voters will read at the ballot box.

The board is a five-member panel including the Ohio secretary of state, two Republicans and two Democrats picked by lawmakers. LaRose, a Republican, is not expected to attend Friday’s meeting because of his U.S. Army Reserve duty. Chief Legal Counsel Larry Obhof will fill in.

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%.

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