Nov 5, 2024 - Election
Ohio rejects anti-gerrymandering amendment
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Ohio voters have rejected another effort to overhaul the redistricting process through a constitutional amendment, the Associated Press reports.
Why it matters: Issue 1 would have changed how legislative districts are drawn for members of Congress and the Ohio Statehouse.
State of play: Tuesday's result contradicts recent polling that showed Issue 1 with commanding support from likely voters.
- The proposed amendment called for a new 15-member commission of five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents to draw and approve maps.
- Politicians, lobbyists and party officials would have been ineligible to serve.
Yes, but: Ohioans opted to keep a system in place they voted to enact last decade.
- The Ohio Redistricting Commission is comprised of seven elected officials, five of which are currently held by Republicans.
- The commission adopted maps after the 2020 census that a GOP-leaning Ohio Supreme Court ruled to be illegally gerrymandered.
Between the lines: This led a group called Citizens Not Politicians to put Issue 1 on the ballot.
- A key supporter was former Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican, who had ruled on some of those gerrymandered maps before leaving office.
- Issue 1 faced opposition from former President Trump, Gov. Mike DeWine, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, though some acknowledged flaws with the existing system.