Issue 1 on Ohio’s November ballot would change the way the state draws district maps for Congress, the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate.

The constitutional amendment before voters would replace the current politician-run redistricting commission with a 15-member citizen commission of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independents. Members couldn’t be elected officials, lobbyists or political consultants.

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

The commission would have rules on how to draw maps:

• 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 are entitled to be favored 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.