The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that controversial language describing the Issue 1 redistricting amendment to the state's constitution may remain on the ballot with few changes, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The Republican-approved language said the amendment requires gerrymandering, while proponents believe it does the opposite.
The high court ruled 4-3 in favor of Republicans' characterization of the amendment as it will appear when Ohioans cast their votes on Nov. 5. The amendment would shift the task of drawing the maps away from state politicians to an appointed commission comprised of 15 citizens.
Citizens Not Politicians, which proposed the amendment, sued over the descriptive language for voters that they believe is the opposite of the measure's intention. The organization asserted that Republicans intentionally politicized the description.
However, prominent state Republicans, like Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, sided with the characterization based on its move away from the will of voters. The state's Supreme Court did as well, except for two sections that need fine-tuning by the Ohio Ballot Board.
Citizens Not Politicians has proposed a system in which a commission would be formed with five Democrats, five Republicans, and five independents. Issue 1 would move district mapping away from a voter-approved method to this new committee.
The chosen panelists would be responsible for drawing the congressional maps rather than elected officials as voters approved in 2015 and 2018. These panelists would be barred from serving as lobbyists, political consultants, elected officials, or any other political activity.
"Ohioans across the political spectrum − Republicans, Independents, Democrats − want to end gerrymandering. That’s why they’re voting yes on Issue 1: to reject the politicians’ lies, to get politicians and lobbyists out of the map-rigging business, and to end gerrymandering," Citizens Not Politicians claimed.
However, opponents believe that this new commission overrides what voters have already approved. They also believe that such a committee of unelected persons would open the door to exactly the practice the amendment is meant to stop.
Publicizing this fact on the ballot in the language describing the amendment is a win for the naysayers. "The ballot language is now clear: Issue 1 will force gerrymandering into the state constitution while destroying the anti-gerrymandering reforms Ohio voters approved by more than 70%," Ohio Auditor Keith Faber said of the measure.
This ballot measure could play an outsized role in national elections because Ohio is considered both a swing and bellwether state. As NPR pointed out, Republicans and Democrats court voters from the Buckeye State each cycle, and 2024 is no different.
Ohio has the longest-running legacy of picking the national winners, from 1964 with Lyndon Johnson through Donald Trump's 2016 victory. Moreover, since the Civil War, Ohio has chosen the winner 21 times and the loser only four times, including Trump's 2020 bid.
Vice President Kamala Harris will have to win over these voters who overwhelmingly chose Trump the last time he was on the national ballot. Moreover, she must convince them to choose her over their homegrown Sen. J.D. Vance, who appears on the GOP ticket as the former president's running mate.
If redistricting continues to favor Republicans through the conventional districting model, that could spell trouble for the Democratic Party, and they know it. If Harris wins the presidency, it will be that much harder for her and the Democratic Party to hold onto it next time around.
It's important that citizens know exactly what they are choosing when voting on these ballot initiatives. Any bill amendment that takes an issue away from elected officials, including Issue 1, should be met with skepticism.
