Ohio Governor Opposes Ballot Initiative To Establish Citizen Redistricting Commission

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) argued a November ballot initiative that aims to end gerrymandering would actually make it worse.

“I’m afraid that if this amendment passes, in a relatively short time, after the voters see the results and see the districts that have been produced, voters would once again demand change, and would be even more disillusioned,” DeWine said during a press conference Wednesday morning.

Last week, Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) announced that a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering gained enough signatures to be on the ballot for the 2024 election.

Citizens Not Politicians, a campaign to end gerrymandering in Ohio, introduced an amendment to the state constitution that would have an independent citizen commission, composed of 15 members, draw congressional and legislative maps instead of lawmakers. 

In his press conference, DeWine staunchly opposed the initiative, particularly the proportionality method that the citizen commission would use to draw the maps. 

The constitutional amendment lays out what this process looks like — the proportion of districts that favor one political party or another should “correspond closely” to statewide partisan preferences of Ohio voters. This is measured by looking at the results of the previous six years’ worth of statewide partisan general elections.

“My message today is criteria. The criteria that is set forth in this constitutional amendment is inherently flawed and will directly result in the worst gerrymandering we’ve ever seen,” he said.

He said this method of prioritizing proportionality above all else will “carve up” villages and counties, make elections in each district uncompetitive and bring partisanship into the map-drawing process.

Chris Davey, spokesperson for Citizens Not Politicians, pushed back against the governor’s claims about the criteria.

“The first criteria for maps when they are drawn next year by citizens is that they are geographically contiguous, comply with the US Constitution, and comply with the Voting Rights Act,” Davey said in an email statement. “Those three criteria are paramount, not anything else.”

He also vehemently opposed the assertion that this ballot initiative would worsen gerrymandering and unfairly benefit certain political parties. In fact, he said the campaign is proud to be supported by Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike.

“This amendment is supported by a broad coalition including small business owners, veterans, faith leaders, strong conservatives, and Republicans,” Davey said. “It’s no accident that the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment qualified for the November ballot in some of Ohio’s reddest counties, from Adams County to Ashtabula County.”

Also, Retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a strong supporter of the Citizens Not Politicians initiative, said in a statement that the governor misled voters by saying he wants politics out of the process, while at the same time proposing a model where politicians have the final say on maps.

“The disinformation from the Governor today is insulting to everyone in Ohio, and especially insulting to the half a million Ohioans — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — who put the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment on the November ballot,” O’Connor said.

DeWine said instead of the “flawed” model proposed in the ballot initiative, the state should adopt the “Iowa Plan” for redistricting. This plan has a nonpartisan advisory commission draw the maps, but they are subject to approval by the legislature and governor.

DeWine contradicted himself throughout the press conference on this. At one point, he said “I don’t think legislators should be drawing [maps],” and at another point, he argued that “it doesn’t matter much who the map drawer is” because the criteria of the map-drawing process is most important.

O’Connor argued in her statement that the governor’s “rambling and disjointed press conference” showed he does not understand the proposed constitutional amendment.

DeWine went on to explain that in this plan, maps are drawn based on population “with no consideration of past partisan voting patterns,” and map drawers strive to avoid the splitting of cities and counties.

“What I’ve just described is not a new concept. Iowa has been doing it this way for four decades, and they’ve been doing it with success,” DeWine said.

He mentioned that if the ballot initiative gets approved by voters in November, he will try to get the state legislature to adopt the Iowa Plan instead.

“For nearly a year, we have been publicly collecting signatures in all 88 counties and now – 97 days before the election – he tells Ohioans that he and his friends in the legislature are already scheming to overturn what voters will pass in November,” O’Connor said.

All On The Line — a grassroots campaign of the National Redistricting Action Fund — argued in a statement Wednesday that Iowa’s redistricting model will not work in Ohio.

“This is the same tired playbook in Ohio. Given Ohio politicians repeatedly ignored well-intended reforms in order to gerrymander themselves into power, the Iowa model simply will not work in the Buckeye State,” said John Bisognano, president of All On The Line. “Any proposal that could allow gerrymandering politicians to keep the pen to draw the maps or change the rules is unacceptable for Ohioans.”

The campaign also explained in its statement that while the Iowa Plan starts with a nonpartisan state agency drawing the maps, the map-drawing power can return to lawmakers if the legislature rejects the nonpartisan map three times.
“We’re done listening to self-serving politicians tell us how they want to keep rigging the game. On to November,” O’Connor said.