Voters in Ohio will soon be given the opportunity to overhaul how the state draws its congressional and legislative maps.
Citizens Not Politicians, the coalition of organizations behind the constitutional amendment, sent Secretary of State Frank LaRose more than 700,000 signatures earlier this month, and LaRose certified 535,000 signatures last week. The existing maps, enacted in 2020, were drawn by a Republican-led commission of elected officials and have been repeatedly found unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.
“This certification is a historic step towards restoring fairness in Ohio’s electoral process,” retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said in a statement.
“With this amendment on the ballot, Ohioans have the chance to reclaim their power from the self-serving politicians who want to stay in power long past their expiration date,” the statement continued.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission is made up of seven spots, two of which always go to Republicans and two always go to Democrats. The three remaining seats include the governor, the secretary of state, and the auditor, who are all presently Republicans.
If approved, the constitutional amendment would overhaul the Ohio Redistricting Commission and create a 15-member citizen commission. Current politicians, registered lobbyists, and large political donors would be prohibited from joining the commission.
Republicans in the state now hold around 70% of all legislative seats, but they only received about 56% of the statewide vote in recent election cycles, according to Axios.
“It was such an incredible feeling to know that we made the ballot,” Jen Miller from the League of Women Voters, which is a part of Citizens Not Politicians, said. “This is about the everyday people of Ohio taking power back.”
“When politicians and lobbyists get to rig maps, it harms every Ohio voter and our democracy,” she added.
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This is the only statewide ballot initiative on the Ohio ballot this election. Republican state Senate President Matt Huffman has been a vocal critic of the proposal.
“I think that the people who are making an important decision like this ought to be elected officials who are accountable to the public, not unknown bureaucrats somewhere, someplace,” Huffman told ABC 5 Cleveland.
