Ohio Governor Expresses Opposition To Citizen Panel For Redistricting Decision

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has expressed his opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at preventing politicians from redrawing the state’s 15 congressional districts. The amendment suggests entrusting this responsibility to a 15-member citizen panel consisting of five Republican, five Democrat, and five independent voters.

Following the successful qualification of the amendment for November’s ballot, after the Citizens Not Politicians campaign delivered 731,306 signatures from all counties in Ohio to the secretary of state’s office, DeWine made his stance clear.

If approved, the amendment would replace the current Ohio Redistricting Commission, which is comprised of three statewide officeholders and four state lawmakers. The citizen panel, on the other hand, would exclude lobbyists, elected officials, and political consultants, and instead be selected with the assistance of retired judges.

However, DeWine, a Republican, believes that the amendment would aggravate gerrymandering issues and place greater emphasis on proportionality, which requires the district maps to align with recent statewide voting results.

“We must defeat this misguided ballot initiative because there is a better way to approach redistricting – a way that completely removes politics from the map drawing process,” voiced DeWine.

DeWine pointed to the redistricting model employed in Iowa as a potential alternative solution, whereby the state’s nonpartisan legislative service commission draws the districts and lawmakers approve them. He noted that this model retains politicians’ involvement, but could be modified to ensure greater satisfaction for all parties involved.

“The concept of proportionality may sound fair,” stated DeWine. “However, we observe that requiring the map drawer to favor one political party in each district, with a predetermined partisan advantage and mandating a specific number of districts to favor each party, diminishes the pursuit of other important government objectives. All the good intentions go down the drain.”

Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, a Democrat, expressed her support for the proposed measure.

“Governor DeWine has voted in favor of unconstitutional maps on seven different occasions, and now he claims that what Ohio truly needs is what he refers to as ‘The Iowa Plan’ – a system in which the governor and other politicians have the final say on the maps,” Antonio remarked in a statement.

Under Ohio’s current system, involving the state legislature and a state redistricting commission composed of elected officials, including DeWine, seven rounds of legislative and congressional maps have been deemed unconstitutional by the courts.