2024 Ohio Issue 1
The 2024 Ohio redistricting commission initiative was a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment, Issue 1 on the ballot, that was defeated 53.7% to 46.3% in the November 2024 election. If passed, the amendment would have replaced the existing politician-led Ohio Redistricting Commission with a 15-member commission of Ohio citizens selected from a pool by a panel of retired judges, to redraw congressional and legislative districts.
According to the petition, the official title was "An amendment to replace the current politician-run redistricting process with a citizen-led commission required to create fair state legislative and congressional districts through a more open and independent system." The proposed amendment would have set up a 15-member commission, narrowed from a larger pool by retired judges, to draw the district maps for Ohio statehouse and U.S. Congressional elections.
The proposed amendment was supported by a local coalition, Citizens Not Politicians, led by retired Republican chief justice Maureen O'Connor, locally supported by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Common Cause Ohio, with support from the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. The proponents said that the law would end gerrymandering and "ban current or former politicians, political party officials and lobbyists from sitting on the Commission." Opponents argued it would create an unelected commission unaccountable to voters and was an attempt by Democrats to gain more seats in Congress and the statehouse.
Despite seeking to end gerrymandering, the certified ballot language noted that the amendment would "repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three-quarters of Ohio electors participating in the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018, and eliminate the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens to hold their representatives accountable for establishing fair state legislative and congressional districts." The ballot summary was written by the Ohio Ballot Board, anchored by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and was opposed by the petitioners through a lawsuit, calling it "biased, inaccurate, deceptive". It was only given a minor adjustment by the Ohio Supreme Court.
Background
The ballot initiative was proposed in the context of longstanding disputes over redistricting in Ohio. Two earlier initiatives, supported by Republicans or Democrats, had been defeated. In 2015, the Republican-majority legislature passed an initiative to create a politician-led Ohio Redistricting Commission, which was passed by the voters and would draw state legislative districts. In 2018, the legislature and voters passed another amendment extending the commission's powers to redraw congressional districts.In 2021-2022, this Redistricting Commission drew new statehouse district maps, which were opposed by Democrats and rejected five times in 4-3 votes by the Ohio Supreme Court. The swing vote in these rulings was cast by Maureen O'Connor, a longtime Republican but critic of Donald Trump. As reported by the Associated Press, the state court eventually rejected two congressional maps and five sets of Statehouse maps as too disproportional. However, the second congressional map was not adjudicated until after the May 2022 primary, and a federal court intervened in the statehouse map to impose one of the maps rejected by the state court in time to hold a delayed August 2022 primary for the legislative districts, such that court-rejected maps were in effect for the November 2022 general election. In September 2023, the Ohio Redistricting Commission passed a new statehouse map by a 7-0 vote. Although this map was gerrymandered to approximately the same degree as the previous maps, because it had been passed with bipartisan support, in November 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the three lawsuits filed against it. The lawsuits on the second Congressional map were withdrawn, as O'Connor's replacement on the Ohio Supreme Court was likely to vote with the three Republican justices who opposed the rejection of the earlier maps. The litigants believed that replacement maps might be more favorable to Republicans, in a reprise of the North Carolina congressional map dispute.
Issue 1 also emerged in the context of rising concern about elections, redistricting, and, more specifically, similar ballot initiative efforts in other states.
Campaign
Signature gathering
As the 2022 Ohio elections were moving forward with district maps ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court, by September 2022 plans for a new approach were being discussed by activists, including Common Cause Ohio and the League of Women Voters of Ohio. The campaign gained support from two retired Ohio Supreme Court justices, Maureen O'Connor and Yvette McGee-Brown, a Republican and a Democrat.The Citizens Not Politicians campaign said that Issue 1 would: "Require fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor any political party or individual politician." They also avow that the amendment would "Require the commission to operate under an open and independent process."
After the Attorney General's approval of the ballot language, on July 1, 2024, the campaign submitted 731,000 signatures by voters in support of the ballot initiative. This number passed the hurdle of 10% of the voters in the preceding gubernatorial election. This support included passing a 5% threshold of voters in 57 of Ohio's 88 counties.
Official arguments
On August 26, the Ballot Board released Issue 1 arguments and explanations:The supporting argument stressed the shift of redistricting by politicians to citizens. It claimed that "Ohio is one of the most gerrymandered states in America," as evidenced by seven Supreme Court rulings that maps under the existing system were unconstitutional. It said that politicians and lobbyists would be banned from gerrymandering districts. It claimed that a "broad spectrum" of Ohioans, across party divisions, supported the initiative. In its explanation document for Issue 1, the Citizens Not Politicians campaign submitted 7 quotations from media, experts, and business leaders.
The opposing argument claimed that the amendment "forces gerrymandering" and would remove accountability to voters. It claimed that the proposed system would result in "political and racial gerrymandering." It said accountability would be impaired because of the commission selection process, the lack of citizen member qualifications, the ability to spend state money, and the use of outside consultants. The opposing argument and explanation were written by Robert Paduchik, former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, and submitted by Ohio Works. Although there is some dispute about whether Issue 1 will require gerrymandering, the Toledo Blade Editorial Board has said that "there is an element of gerrymandering in the amendment." Ohio Governor Mike DeWine was also quoted saying, "Ohio would actually end up with a system that mandates map drawers to produce gerrymandered districts."
Endorsements
Support
The campaign was endorsed by organizations such as the state's AFL-CIO and other labor unions, American Federation of Teachers, Brennan Center for Justice, Council on American Islamic Relations Ohio, Equality Ohio, NAACP, National Council of Jewish Women, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Ohio Environmental Council, Ohio Farmers Union, The Amos Project, and the Ohio Sustainable Business Coalition. The campaign also received support from the Toledo Blade editorial board, The Columbus Dispatch editorial board, ''Cleveland.com, and other columnists. In January 2024, the Leadership Now Project made public a letter by 67 business leaders who supported the constitutional amendment. In September, it was alleged that Citizens Not Politicians had hired a paid actor to be a Republican in their commercial.Opposition
Ohio Works, the coalition of opponents to Issue 1, believed that a key issue was that elected officials are accountable to voters, whereas they believed that a ballot issue would have created a commission that would have been insulated from accountability to voters. It stated that spending by the proposed commission would not be controlled by Ohio voters.In opposition to Issue 1, the Republican Senate leadership stated that, "There would be zero accountability to the voters once the citizens panel dissolves.... This really represents an attack on democracy through a fourth branch of government appointed by former members of the judiciary." In August 2024, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson headlined a fundraiser, along with Governor Mike DeWine and GOP Congressmen, to support a political action committee against Issue 1.
Former Chair of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, Rebecca Szetela, visited Ohio and endorsed a NO vote based on her experience in Michigan where she said the commission has failed in practice. The Ohio plan is closely shaped after Michigan's plan.
On October 17, 2024, a bipartisan group of Black leaders led by Republican State Senator Michelle Reynolds came out in opposition to the proposed amendment. Reynolds, joined by former Democratic State Representative John Barnes, said at the event, "I am deeply concerned about the disastrous effects that Issue 1 will have on the Black state legislative and congressional districts in Ohio. Ohio's Issue 1 could lead to a loss of representation for minority communities as seen in Michigan. Instead of ensuring fairer maps, the reform could fragment cohesive minority voting blocks, diluting our political influence."