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Pro-democracy activists won a major victory in Ohio this week when officials determined that they had submitted a sufficient number of valid signatures to get an amendment on the November ballot that would finally make redistricting in the Buckeye State fairer.
Ohio is one of the most gerrymandered states in the country. Donald Trump won the state by 8 points in 2020. However, Republicans currently occupy 10 of 15 congressional seats.
Things are just as bad on the state level, where only about 20 percent of the 99 seats in the State House are competitive but Republicans hold a supermajority.
This is not the first time that a redistricting measure was on the ballot in Ohio.
The state’s citizens also overwhelmingly supported reforms in 2015 and 2018.
However, these amendments left it up to elected officials to draw new maps. And, since Republicans held a majority on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, they only produced partisan maps that helped the GOP.
While the state Supreme Court overturned several of them, it ultimately allowed the current map to be used after both parties reached a compromise, which Democrats say was just a type of damage control on their part.
The new amendment would establish a 15-member commission consisting of five Republicans, five Democrats, and five independents.
In addition, it aims to take politicians out of the process.
For example, elected officials, active lobbyists, and political consultants would not be allowed to serve on the commission, whose members would have to be screened by a panel of four retired judges — two Republicans and two Democrats.
The redrawn district would also have to meet certain criteria.
Specifically, the redrawn map has to “correspond closely to statewide partisan preferences of the voters of Ohio,” which is defined as not deviating from the statewide preferences of voters by more than three points in either direction.
The amendment also stipulates that, in districts where that is not possible, the commission has to stick to the result of the last election as closely as possible with regard to drawing districts that include a proportional number of Democratic and Republican voters.
In addition, each district also has to fairly represent the demographics of Ohio’s population.
The map should “with the greatest priority being given to ensure equal functional ability of politically cohesive and geographically proximate racial, ethnic, and language minorities to elect candidates of their choice, and preserve communities of interest to the extent practicable.”
Former Republican State Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, one of the proponents of the amendment, said it represented a “historic step towards restoring fairness in Ohio’s electoral process.”
It is expected that most of the state’s Republicans will push to defeat an amendment that would make another power grab on their part more difficult.
