Toledo resident Pierrette “Petee” Talley has not voted for her state senator since 2018; not because she didn’t want to, but because there hasn’t been one on the ballot.
Ms. Talley, who lives on Parkside Boulevard, and other Toledo residents were previously in state Senate District 11, and they expected to vote for a candidate in 2018. When they got their ballots, though, they couldn’t vote for state senator because they had been redistricted into Senate District 2, which would be on the ballot in 2022.
In 2022, those same residents expected to vote for a candidate, but they couldn’t because they had been redistricted into Senate District 11.
“The effect of that is that we not have had an opportunity to vote for Senate representation since 2018, and that is a major impact,” Ms. Talley said.
Because Ohio residents vote for state senators in odd and even districts in opposite years, Ms. Talley won’t be voting for a senate candidate again this November, but she, and the rest of Ohio voters, will be deciding on a redistricting amendment that would take the map-drawing process out of the hands of politicians and put it into the hands of citizens.
The only state-wide issue on the ballot, Issue 1, would create a 15-member committee made up of five Republicans, five Democrats, and five independents. They will be tasked with drawing the state legislative and congressional maps. None of the members can be an elected official, politician, family member, staffer, lobbyist, or major campaign contributor — a rule that hopes to eliminate gerrymandering.
The amendment has garnered support from Democrats, but many Republicans warn that if passed, the amendment would create gerrymandering.
“If one reads the language, this actually puts gerrymandering into Ohio’s Constitution,” Alex Triantafilou, the chairman of Ohio’s Republican Party, said. “It will mandate that proportionality be considered by line drawers.”
The Ohio Constitution already requires that proportionality be considered. Section 6 of Article 11 states, “the statewide proportion of districts whose voters, based on statewide state and federal partisan general election results during the last ten years, favor each political party shall correspond closely to the statewide preferences of the voters of Ohio.”
Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor, who is a vocal proponent of the amendment, said proportionality is important to consider when redrawing the maps, but so is adhering to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.
Mr. Triantafilou said while proportionality can be one factor, it shouldn’t be the only consideration.
“Keeping communities together should matter. Making continuous districts where elected officials can stay in touch more closely with their constituency should matter,” Mr. Triantafilou said.
But supporters of Issue 1 say the amendment will do just that.
On Wednesday, the Ohio Right to Life PAC voted to oppose the amendment, citing the lack of accountability for the commission as one of its concerns.
“If politicians don’t do what we want, we can vote them out,” Michael Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life, said. “We can’t do that for this because these people will be appointed to the commission.”
According to the ballot language, the 15-member council will be determined through an extensive process. Four partisan appointees that currently sit on the Ohio Ballot Board will choose a panel of four partisan retired judges, two Republicans and two Democrats. The panel will then hire a private professional search firm to help them choose six of the 15 individuals on the commission from a pool of 90 individuals. The panel will narrow the pool from 90 down to 45 individuals after conducting public interviews with each applicant. Randomly, by draw, the panel will blindly select six names from the pool of 45 individuals.
The six randomly selected will then review the applications of the remaining 39 individuals and select nine to serve on the commission.
Ms. O’Connor said if an appointee is neglecting their duties, the other members of the commission are tasked with removing them.
If the amendment passes, Ohio would become the eighth state to have an independent citizen commission redistricting the state. Currently, the General Assembly draws the congressional maps, while the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission draws state legislative maps.
Both processes have been controlled by Republicans for the last several cycles. The GOP currently holds 10 of Ohio’s 15 congressional seats, 26 of 33 state Senate seats, and 67 of 99 state House seats.
When the last maps were adopted in 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the state legislative maps unconstitutional five times and the congressional maps unconstitutional twice.
“Honestly, I’m perfectly fine with a long, drawn-out process,” Mr. Gonidakis said. “I’m fine if it takes three, four, five, six maps to get it right because that means they are taking the time to draw the best possible maps.”
In 2015 and 2018, Ohio voters approved amendments to reform the state legislative and congressional redistricting processes. In November, voters will decide whether they still want to stick by those amendments or put citizens in charge.