Do you want to stop gerrymandering in Ohio?

It’s a question that backers of Ohio Issue 1 want voters to answer with an enthusiastic “yes” on their constitutional amendment this fall. Meanwhile, opponents say the question was already answered when voters overwhelmingly approved anti-gerrymandering rules in 2015 and 2018.

For the average Ohioan, gerrymandering can sound more like a rare amphibian than a political process that influences everything from taxes and school policy to abortion access and gun control.

That’s why the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau has compiled a one-stop shop to answer your questions about redistricting, gerrymandering, what happened with the previous voter-approved amendments and what this new ballot measure would do.

Then, it’s up to you. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 7 and early voting begins Oct. 8, both in-person and via mail. Election Day is Nov. 5.

What is redistricting and why does it matter?

Most lawmakers representing Ohio voters at the Statehouse in Columbus or Congress in Washington, D.C., run for election in districts.

Deciding what these districts look like is called redistricting.

Normally, redistricting happens every 10 years after the U.S. Census is complete. New population data determine how many seats each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ohio currently has 15 congressional seats, down from a high of 24 from 1963 to 1973.

The population numbers also help decide where these districts should be. If Columbus and Cincinnati are growing in population, they are entitled to more representation in Columbus and D.C. If Youngstown is shrinking, its representation should, too.

While the concept is simple − divide the state evenly into 15 congressional districts, 33 state Senate districts and 99 state House districts, the execution is often complicated and deeply political. That’s because how you draw the districts can give one political party an advantage over the other.

What is gerrymandering?

Gerrymandering is drawing districts to give one political party an unearned advantage over the other. The term came from a salamander-like district signed into law by Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry in 1812.

There are lots of ways to gerrymander. One method is called packing. Using this technique, mapmakers could cram most of an area’s Republicans into one district, which the Republican candidate is guaranteed to win by a large margin while assuring Democrats can win the surrounding districts.

Another method is called cracking. Using cracking, mapmakers could divide a Democratic city into two districts with enough Republican voters to dilute the Democrats and ensure two Republicans win those seats.

A third tactic pits two sitting lawmakers of the same party against one another, ensuring one will lose. Similar to a game of musical chairs, someone is left without a seat when the music stops.

Some limits exist: The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 prevents disenfranchising voters based on race, color or membership in a language minority group.

Ohio voters approved anti-gerrymandering language in 2015 and 2018. What happened?

Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved anti-gerrymandering measures in 2015 and 2018 to change how state legislative and congressional districts were drawn.

The new rules created the Ohio Redistricting Commission, a seven-member panel of three statewide elected officials (governor, auditor and secretary of state) and four lawmakers who would draw state House and Senate districts and help with congressional districts.

The new amendments created rules against splitting counties, municipalities and townships. The commission was also required to try to reflect recent statewide election results. By the end of 2020, Ohio was a red-leaning state, so to meet this requirement, the maps would lean Republican.

If the Republican-controlled commission couldn’t get approval from at least two Democrats, the maps would last for four years instead of 10. That uncertainty was supposed to drive compromise.

But Ohio’s new redistricting process was mired in political fights, missed deadlines, last-minute votes and squabbles about seemingly basic decisions, such as who should chair the commission. Rather than draw maps as a seven-member commission, staff for Republican and Democratic lawmakers crafted their own plans.

At one point, Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, opined that Republicans could be entitled to up to 81% of the districts. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose called that logic “asinine” in a text message but voted for the maps anyway.

Then came the protracted legal battles. A divided Ohio Supreme Court rejected statehouse maps five times and congressional district plans twice as unconstitutional gerrymandering. The Ohio Supreme Court almost held Ohio’s top officials in contempt of court, and lawmakers considered impeaching then-Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor.

Ultimately, federal judges forced Ohio to use statehouse maps that they called “the best of our bad options” for a costly August 2022 primary with abysmal turnout. And the U.S. Supreme Court got involved, sending the issue back to an Ohio Supreme Court after O’Connor left the bench. In the end, Democrats agreed to GOP-crafted statehouse maps out of concern that the next proposal would be even worse.

What would Ohio Issue 1 do?

In response, O’Connor and a group called Citizens Not Politicians crafted a new way to draw districts. It’s on Ohio’s fall ballot as Issue 1.

The proposal would replace the current politician-run commission with a 15-member citizen commission of five independents and five members each from the top two political parties, currently the Republicans and Democrats. Members couldn’t be elected officials, lobbyists or political consultants.

“We’re taking the elected officials out of the mapmaking process because they’ve proven repeatedly that they can’t actually be trusted to do it,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio and an Issue 1 proponent.

Opponents of the measure say elected officials should retain redistricting powers because they are more accountable to the people.

Retired judges would narrow down citizen applicants and randomly choose six of the 15 members. Then, those six would pick the remaining nine.

If voters approve these changes, the citizen commission will draw new maps next year. Commission members would have to follow certain rules:

• Craft districts that comply with federal laws, including a ban on disenfranchising minority voters.
• Create maps that closely correspond to recent statewide election results. That means if Republicans are winning statewide races by about 60% of the vote, they would be favored to win in about 60% of the districts.
• Not consider where current lawmakers live.
• Count prisoners at their home addresses instead of where they are incarcerated.
• Keep “communities of interest” together. These could be cities or counties, but they could also be neighborhoods with similar “ethnic, racial, social, cultural, geographic, environmental, socioeconomic or historic” identities or concerns. There is no ban on splitting cities or limit on how often they can be divided.

The proposal has rules to keep the public in the loop and prevent last-minute votes on maps no one has scrutinized. For example, the citizen commission must seek input from Ohioans at multiple public hearings across the state announced at least 14 days in advance. After revisions, the commission must hold at least two public hearings with three days’ notice.

To approve new districts, the commission would need nine votes, including two Republicans, two Democrats and two independents. If they can’t agree on a plan, each member would rank proposed maps from their most to least favorite. The least popular plan would be eliminated until only one plan remains.

The Ohio Supreme Court would review any lawsuits challenging the approved districts. The justices would use two redistricting experts, called special masters, to determine if mapmakers made mistakes and give the commission a week to fix them. If the commission doesn’t fix its mistakes, the special masters would fix them instead.

Read original piece here.