As yet another round of drawing new districts for lawmakers from Ohio starts, there's renewed frustration and concern about the redistricting process. And there are also questions about a promise Gov. Mike DeWine made to Ohio voters about addressing those issues.
A year ago, voters were facing a constitutional amendment that would create a commission of 15 appointed citizens, not elected officials, to draw congressional and legislative district maps. That commission would have replaced the Ohio Redistricting Commission, a seven-member panel made up of the governor, auditor and secretary of state along with four legislators—two senators and two representatives, with both parties equally represented. The idea for the amendment came about after the Ohio Supreme Court's three Democrats and Republican Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor repeatedly ruled in 2021 and 2022 that congressional and legislative maps approved by Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
Republicans largely opposed the ballot issue last fall. That included DeWine, who said if Ohio voters refused the redistricting reform constitution plan on the November ballot, he’d work toward a new process, similar to the non-partisan legislative commission that draws maps in Iowa.
“After we defeat this inherently flawed proposal, I will work with the General Assembly to introduce a resolution in the next session," DeWine said in July 2024. "We will vet that proposal. There will be hearings on it. We’ll hear from citizens on all sides and I hope then approve the resolution to place an initiative on the ballot for voters to approve the way the process should be.”
The Citizens Not Politicians redistricting proposal, which was Issue 1 on last November's ballot, failed 54%-46%.
DeWine added if the amendment failed he would take action in January, when the new legislature was sworn in, to start the process. And if they didn’t act, he said he’d work to put another constitutional amendment before voters.
But when asked last week if he's doing that, DeWine said while he wants a redistricting plan on the ballot, lawmakers will have to produce Congressional maps without that change.
“There’s not time to do that as you know. You couldn’t do that," DeWine said. "There’s a clock ticking and they have to get something done.”
What happened to DeWine's potential plan?
Ohio lawmakers knew they'd have to draw a new 15-district congressional map this year. The map approved in 2022 didn't get Democratic votes, and the constitutional amendment voters approved in 2018 limits a map without bipartisan support to only four years. The first deadline for that map is coming up on Sept. 30.
But for the first six months of the year, DeWine and lawmakers were focused on the two-year state budget, not redistricting. After the budget passed and was signed, legislators went on summer break—though the House returned in July for Republicans to override one of DeWine's budget vetoes involving property taxes. The full legislature is not expected to come back until next month.
A panel of lawmakers from the House and Senate will be coming on Sept. 22 to consider redistricting. But their work will be limited to attempting to draw a new Congressional district map, not taking any actions to change the current redistricting process.
When talking to reporters last week, DeWine said he still supports a non-partisan legislative commission to draw maps, like the one in Iowa. There's no indication that the legislature wants to pass a resolution to put a new redistricting process before voters, though even Republicans admitted there was frustration with the current process.
When asked last week about launching that effort, DeWine expressed concerns about the cost of doing that.
“I don’t know that I could raise the money to do that after I’ve looked at it, frankly," DeWine said.
Redistricting reform backers doubted DeWine's promise
Catherine Turcer is executive director of Common Cause Ohio, a government watchdog group that was part of the coalition behind last year's proposed amendment. Turcer said she didn’t think DeWine was sincere when he made his comments prior to last fall’s vote.
“I assumed it was a fickle to get folks to vote 'no' on Citizens Not Politicians," Turcer said. "And that’s the case because nothing has actually happened."
Turcer said the same process that was used to come up with the current congressional map will be used to develop a new one that will last for the next six years.
Minority Democrats introduced a map last week that they say features eight districts that lean red and seven districts that lean blue in an evenly-matched year. But House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) blasted it as gerrymandered. And he said Republicans, who hold supermajorities in both the House and Senate, aren't likely to submit a map before the joint committee meets.
“I don’t think we’ll have a map until Sept. 22," Huffman said.
“We know that they are going to start meeting on Sept. 22," Turcer said. "It’s incredibly important to begin as soon as possible with voting districts, to have public deliberations and conversations, to have an opportunity for the public to weigh in.”
Ohio's constitution dictates a new Congressional map has to pass by Sept. 30 with a 3/5th vote in both the House and Senate, including half of all Democrats. If that doesn't happen, the Ohio Redistricting Commission will get a crack at it. That commission will get a month to come up with a map that has the votes of both Democratic members. And if that doesn't happen by Oct. 31, the map-making duty will go back to the legislature where a map can be approved with a simple majority though a partisan map would only be good for four years.
The new congressional map must be approved by Nov. 30. Candidates for those districts must file paperwork by Feb. 4.
