A panel of lawmakers meets Friday to determine the summary language voters will see in November when deciding whether to change the state’s redistricting process.

The group behind the proposed constitutional amendment, Citizens Not Politicians, has submitted proposed language that the Republican-dominated Ohio Ballot Board could adopt. But if the past is prologue, it probably won’t.

Critics concerned language can be changed by partisans

Citizens Not Politicians is proposing scrapping the Ohio Redistricting Commission, made up of seven elected officials, and replacing it with a 15-member citizens commission to draw lawmakers’ district lines. That panel would have an equal number of Republicans, Democrats and independents selected by retired judges. Current and former politicians, lobbyists or other political experts would be banned from the panel.

Republicans including Gov. Mike DeWine and Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) have opposed the plan.
 
Last year, the ballot board split on summary language for a reproductive rights amendment that most Republicans opposed. The language had been written by Republican and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office. The three Republicans on the board voted for it, while the two Democrats voted to reject it.

“The summary that has been put forward is propaganda,” said Lauren Blauvelt, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and co-chair for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights which was Issue 1.

Among the changes, the ballot board substituted the term “unborn child” for “fetus,” which is the word used in the amendment.

But Republicans defended the decision to change the wording, even though the ballot board itself does not take positions supporting or opposing issues.

“No one should be fooled by the clever language of this amendment. It’s designed to be broad – so broad that should it pass. It is unequivocally true that access to painful late-term abortions will be written into Ohio’s constitution,” said Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green). “It’s a bridge too far.”

Supporters of the amendment had wanted the board to use the 250-word amendment itself as the ballot summary. The amendment guarantees the right to abortion, contraception, fertility treatment and miscarriage care, and also permits the state to restrict abortion after fetal viability, while preserving a protection for the life and health of the woman.

Gavarone, who remains on the Ohio Ballot Board, is running for re-election to her Senate seat in November.

Supporters of the reproductive rights amendment sued over the language but, ultimately, there was only a minor change. Fifty-seven percent of Ohioans voted for the measure, though some people on both sides said they were confused about the summary language.

LaRose chaired the ballot board last fall, even as he opposed the reproductive rights issue, and had supported an amendment last August to ask voters to require a higher approval threshold for future amendments. Republicans had said concerns about efforts to change laws on abortion and redistricting were a driving factor in that proposal last summer.

Fast forward to now

LaRose has announced he won’t be overseeing the ballot board meeting Friday. Instead, his chief legal counsel, fellow Republican and former Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof, will chair the meeting.

The ballot board will have to decide on the language voters will see summarizing the redistricting amendment, which is the only one on November’s ballot. Citizens Not Politicians spokesman Chris Davey said the submitted language provides a good summary.

“It should help the ballot board to fulfill their legal duty to provide Ohio voters with a true and impartial statement of this important amendment. And we have urged the Ballot Board to adopt this language,” Davey said.

The ballot board meeting will be livestreamed at 11 a.m. Friday on the Ohio Channel.

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