The Ohio General Assembly has been considering possible redistricting reforms. Redistricting reform requires changing the Ohio Constitution. Three-fifths of the members of both the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House have to vote for passage of amendments to the Ohio Constitution.
The Ohio Senate passed a redistricting resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 5, on September 23, 2009. SJR 5 is sponsored by Senator Jon Husted (R-Kettering), the Republican candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. This resolution is focused on changing the make-up of the Reapportionment Board and gives priority to compactness and values creating competitive districts if compactness requirements are met.
On May 27, 2010, the Ohio House passed another redistricting resolution, House Joint Resolution 15. This resolution is sponsored by State Representative Tom Letson (D-Warren). HJR 15 is designed to reform how districts of the Ohio General Assembly are drawn. House Joint Resolution 15 calls for an open and public competition to draw legislative state districts based on specific criteria or goals.
There are significant differences between the two proposed redistricting resolutions—SJR 5 and HJR 15– and three-fifths of both Houses of the General Assembly have to agree on the specifics of a Constitutional amendment before it is sent to the voters for their final say.
Senate Joint Resolution 5 creates a bipartisan redistricting board and focuses almost entirely on keeping municipalities together and compactness. Competition is a factor in redrawing the lines but it is not well-defined in SJR 5 and is only tertiary. While SJR 5 changes the redrawing for both state legislative races and US Congress, HJR 15 only addresses redistricting for the Ohio House and Ohio Senate. House Joint Resolution 15 does not change the makeup of the Reapportionment Board and focuses on different, clearly defined criteria— fair representation, competitive districting and compactness.
In order for this redistricting reform to be placed on the Ohio ballot this November, the three-fifths of the members of the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate must agree on not only on the need for reform but the exact language of the reform measures by August 4.
COLUMBUS -- There is still time, barely, to fix the ways legislative and congressional districts are drawn in Ohio, highly partisan processes that happen once a decade, following each census. If lawmakers act quickly, they can meet an Aug. 4 deadline for placing a constitutional amendment on the November ballot. Voter approval would put new rules in place for the next round of adjustments.
On Thursday, the House took the encouraging step of passing a long-stalled bill by state Rep. Tom Letson. The Warren Democrat's plan would affect only the redrawing of legislative districts and maintain the current apportionment board, made up of the governor, auditor, secretary of state and a legislative member from each party.
To counter the inevitable scheming by the party that wins two of the three statewide offices, Letson would open a public competition, scoring plans on compactness, partisan balance, competitiveness and preservation of city boundaries," Akron Beacon Journal.
COLUMBUS -- Reform is necessary because political parties can stack the deck in ways that all but prevent lawmakers from having to compete for their jobs. Some districts are drawn so they’re always won by Republicans, no matter what; others are drawn so they’re safe for Democrats.
Sixty votes were needed to approve putting the plan on the November ballot.
A different reform proposal had already passed the Senate. Now the Legislature has to get very busy about finding a compromise," Dayton Daily News.
COLUMBUS -- In what could be a rare display this year of bi-partisanship related a politically charged issue that will have direct consequences over which major political party wields power in the legislature in Columbus, some Republican House reps broke party ranks last week to vote for a Democratic bill on apportioning the state for General Assembly districts, a bill some said they didn't like but would nonetheless support, all because they hope a political logjam can be broken that could lead to a brokered deal with a Senate bill on the same subject they say Ohioans want because it will elections fairer and more transparent.
The measure in question, HJR 15, sponsored by Democrats Tom Letson of Warren and Jennifer Garrison of Marietta, passed 69-28 with the help of 17 Republicans, some of whom expressed their strong concerns in comments made from the floor.
Letson said the measure would take the politics out of the reapportionment process, that has given the political party that controls the three key seats on the state apportionment board - governor, auditor, and secretary of state - the opportunity to draw district lines to favor their party. He said HJR 15 would make districts competitive and 'unarguably fairer for citizens, who would be reassured that their officials will represent them.' With support from newspapers to citizen interest groups like Ohio Citizen Action and the Ohio League of Women Voters, Letson said the transparency and public competition built into the measure will help elections be better," John Michael Spinelli, Examiner.com.
COLUMBUS -- A much-discussed proposal to allow public input into the politically charged redistricting process was approved by an Ohio House committee yesterday, this time with very little discussion.
House Joint Resolution 15, a plan to revamp how state legislative districts are drawn, was approved on a 7-6 party-line vote by the House Elections and Ethics Committee.... The resolution now faces an uncertain fate. Passing new rules for drawing legislative and congressional district boundaries would require merging the House measure with competing legislation sponsored by state Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering. Both chambers would have to pass a compromise version - all within a matter of days before the summer break," Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch.
COLUMBUS -- Ohioans might yet get to vote in November on a less-political way to draw legislative and perhaps congressional district lines.
House Democratic leaders added their redistricting bill to today's Elections and Ethics Committee calendar with the hopes of achieving passage by the full House this week and an eventual compromise with the Senate.... In September, Senate Republicans passed a plan that focuses less on the criteria for drawing maps and more on creating a panel in which both Democrats and Republicans must agree before district lines are approved. That plan, sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, covers both congressional and legislative districts," Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch.
WASHINGTON DC -- Labor unions, corporations and wealthy individuals are preparing to break spending records to influence the November elections. But more than in recent years, they will be focusing on races for governor and state legislatures.
Their goal is to win control of state governments ahead of the state-by-state process for redrawing congressional districts after the 2010 census.
Each party says that winning key statehouse campaigns would give it the power to draw district lines that could cause 20 to 25 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to change hands. There are 253 Democrats and 177 Republicans in the House now," Brody Mullins, The Wall Street Journal. Feb 15: Ohio House holds redistricting reform hearing on Wednesday
Key Points on House Joint Resolution 15, introduced by Representative Letson (D-Warren) as introduced in 2010:
The proposed amendment would create a public competition to draw state legislative district lines
according to a predetermined formula, emphasizing statewide partisan balance, with a lesser role for
competition, and a lesser role still for preservation of municipal boundaries and a particular measure of
compactness. Though Ohio’s present redistricting commission would still exist, it would essentially
become an administrative body, with no discretion to depart from the competition formula. Justin Levitt, Brennan Center for Justice. Click for more info
Key points on Senate Joing Resolution 5, introduced by Senator Husted (R-Kettering) as passed by the Ohio Senate in 2009:
The proposed amendment would expand Ohio’s present redistricting commission by two incumbents, and
place congressional districts as well as state legislative districts under the commission’s authority. The
commission would emphasize preservation of whole political units and, to a lesser extent, competition
between the major parties. Justin Levitt, Brennan Center for Justice. Click for more info
Ohio Citizen Action and the League of Women Voters of Ohio are hosting an Ohio Redistricting Forum on March 1, 2010.
For more details please click here. Feb 8: Editorial: Keep the momentum Legislative cooperation could move two more important state measures
COLUMBUS -- "For redistricting, House Democrats and Senate Republicans have separate bills with somewhat different approaches to taking the politics out of the task, but they could be reconciled by keeping the best features of each.
The Senate plan, passed in September, would create a bipartisan board to approve maps for both congressional and state legislative districts. It would require at least two votes of minority-party members to approve a plan. That makes it an improvement over the current system, in which the three-member Apportionment Board, controlled by whichever party holds at least two of three designated statewide offices, can dictate state legislative district that favors the dominant party. A state legislative majority can similarly slant the drawing of congressional districts.
The House plan introduces another valuable element: allowing the public to submit proposed maps for districts, which would be graded on four criteria aimed at producing competitive districts and fair representation of the parties and avoiding splitting municipalities between districts. A similar demonstration project sponsored by the Ohio League of Women Voters recently produced impressive results," The Columbus Dispatch. Feb 5: Blog: Two district-drawing plans have merit
COLUMBUS -- "...A way has been found to take the power out of the politicians’ hands, to simply eliminate political motivation in map-drawing.
Last year, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner sponsored a test contest promoted by a coalition of activists, including the League of Women Voters and Ohio Citizen Action.
Entrants were asked to draw congressional districts for the last decade, under certain rules, using population stats from the 2000 Census. The results were remarkable," Martin Gottlieb, Dayton Daily News. Feb 4:
Letson proposes public contest to redraw districts Another legislator also is proposing a revamped redistricting plan
COLUMBUS -- "Democrats in the Ohio House are backing a new plan for redrawing the state’s legislative districts that they say will remove partisanship from the process.
The resolution, offered by Rep. Tom Letson of Warren, D-64th, calls for a public competition to draw state legislative district lines and a nonpartisan arbiter to confirm the results.
'The House reapportionment reform plan takes the politics out of reapportionment by providing specific criteria as to how district lines are to be drawn,' Letson said during a Monday press conference at the Statehouse. 'This, in turn, makes each district more competitive,'" Mark Kovac, Youngstown Vindicator. Feb 3:
Parties fight over district redrawing
COLUMBUS -- "'You remember 8th grade social studies? Remember gerrymandering? That's the best way to describe it to citizens,' said Catherine Turcer with Ohio Citizen Action.
Turcer wants to see Ohio eliminate gerrymandering once and for all. She supports a new bill that would create a fair way to draw legislative lines.
'The problem is you can't ever really take the politics out of things,' Turcer said. 'You might as well just own it and be practical and say, 'okay, what we want to do is create criteria that is sensible,'"Jim Heath, ONNtv.com. Feb 2:
Ohio House Democrats have plan to redistrict Idea would let public have a say in layout of legislative maps
COLUMBUS -- "Supporters of finding new, less political ways of drawing legislative and congressional districts say it's time for Democrats and Republicans to marry their ideas.
House Democrats introduced a plan yesterday that would allow the public to submit legislative maps, which then would be graded based on four criteria, including whether districts could produce a fair number of representatives from each party, whether districts are competitive, and the number of times municipalities are divided.
Senate Republicans passed a plan in September that would create a bipartisan board that would need a supermajority vote to approve maps for both legislative and congressional districts," Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch. Jan 25: Martin Gottlieb: Last chance to fix rules that shut out centrists
DAYTON -- "From Catherine Turcer, of Ohio Citizen Action, a consumer advocacy group, on the case for changing a system that creates too many legislative districts that are hopelessly lopsided in favor of one political party:
'Competitive districts tend to create more centrists. And wouldn’t that be nice to have in government, because there’s something to be said for consensus-building?'
Here, in other words, is a chance to actually do something about partisanship," Martin Gottlieb, Dayton Daily News. Jan 25: This year's vote to decide who draws the map for congressional districts
WASHINGTON DC -- "Ohio has 18 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Yet even in what is expected to be a volatile political year, more than a dozen shouldn't have a care in the world about the November elections.
As most Ohio congressional incumbents cruise to re-election this year, they can thank the relatively safe congressional districts drawn up in 2002 by the Republicans when they controlled the governor's office, the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House.
And Ohioans are on the verge of seeing the same much-criticized process locked in again for the next 10 years," Jack Torry, The Columbus Dispatch. Jan 20: Editorial: Waiting for Democrats The state could use an improved way for drawing legislative districts. Will the Ohio House deliver on the necessary constitutional amendment?
AKRON -- "Voters often complain about unresponsive government. Then why not give them the opportunity to elect representatives more likely to cross party lines to reach sensible compromises? That's the essential goal of a proposed constitutional amendment that would improve the way legislative and congressional districts are redrawn in Ohio.
The trouble is, just two weeks remain before a Feb. 3 deadline to place an amendment on the May 4 ballot. At this point, the promising plan passed in September by the Republican-controlled Senate remains stalled in the Ohio House," The Columbus Dispatch. Jan 19: Editorial: Democrats must act now on redistricting
COLUMBUS -- "The November ballot will include races for governor, secretary of state and auditor. Whichever party wins two of those races would control map-drawing completely under current rules. So, whichever party is looking strongest by summer or fall is unlikely to support reform. And without support from both parties, reform has been rejected by voters in the past.
And after November, the actual redistricting process will be imminent. It starts after the 2010 federal Census is done.... Citizens and organizations that are against a system that gives one party the spoils in each decade — and results in, for example, districts that make a near circle around unwanted voters — need to be contacting legislators of both parties," Dayton Daily News.
CUYAHOGA COUNTY-- "A proposal to change the way Ohio draws legislative districts every 10 years is set for a hearing in the House of Representatives today after already passing in the Senate.
The move comes just as many were saying a legislative mapping change was not likely to occur for another 10 years, thanks to a gridlock in state politics.... In 2009, the League of Women Voters, Ohio Citizen Action, Brunner's office and other groups and individuals sponsored a competition to come up with a better way to draw legislative districts. In her column, Brunner said the state should use the competition's criteria - emphasizing compact but competitive districts - to determine the best way to redraw the lines," Justin McIntosh, Marietta Times. Jan 11: Letter to the Editor: How state draws its lines needs to change Redistricting: Map competition would make districts better reflect communities
COLUMBUS -- "If our state legislature can come to an agreement to place the issue before the voters in May, Ohioans have a historic opportunity to change their government.... We have seen with our state's election system that how we structure our government process has much to do with fairness, participation and citizen trust. Changing the way we draw the boundaries of our state legislative districts will go a long way toward creating a governmental system that fosters this. There is a way to draw legislative districts that protects rather than splits the common interests of communities and balances those interests within them," Jennifer Brunner, The Columbus Dispatch.
COLUMBUS -- "The deadline for putting proposed constitutional amendments on the May 4 ballot is Feb. 3, just 23 days after legislators get back to work on Tuesday, Jan. 12.... Redistricting reform, [however], remains a work in progress. The Republican-controlled-Senate has approved a plan, but the Democratic-controlled House hasn’t acted.
Will it? 'We have a lot of work to do between now and then (Feb. 3),' said Keary McCarthy, spokesman for Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood," William Hershey, Dayton Daily News Posted Jan 10. Jan 5: Jon Husted: Ohio’s hyper-partisan redistricting rules can be changed
COLUMBUS -- "In the four decades this system has been in place, it has not served Ohio well. It has largely led to one-party control of state government for decades at a time and immunized many legislators from competitive elections.
Further, this system has contributed to the hyper-partisan atmosphere in state government (and in Congress) because the political leaders who run it can serve their partisan interests and arguably have more power in elections than the voters. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can reform the system. The time to act is now.
The Census, followed by the 2010 elections, will once again commence the redrawing of both legislative and congressional districts. Several constitutional amendments to reform the present system have been proposed," Jon Husted, Dayton Daily News.
COLUMBUS -- "The November ballot will include races for governor, secretary of state and auditor. Whichever party wins two of those races would control map-drawing completely under current rules. So, whichever party is looking strongest by summer or fall is unlikely to support reform. And without support from both parties, reform has been rejected by voters in the past.
And after November, the actual redistricting process will be imminent. It starts after the 2010 federal Census is done.... Citizens and organizations that are against a system that gives one party the spoils in each decade — and results in, for example, districts that make a near circle around unwanted voters — need to be contacting legislators of both parties," Dayton Daily News. 
CUYAHOGA COUNTY-- "A proposal to change the way Ohio draws legislative districts every 10 years is set for a hearing in the House of Representatives today after already passing in the Senate.
The move comes just as many were saying a legislative mapping change was not likely to occur for another 10 years, thanks to a gridlock in state politics.... In 2009, the League of Women Voters, Ohio Citizen Action, Brunner's office and other groups and individuals sponsored a competition to come up with a better way to draw legislative districts. In her column, Brunner said the state should use the competition's criteria - emphasizing compact but competitive districts - to determine the best way to redraw the lines," Justin McIntosh, Marietta Times. 
COLUMBUS -- "In the four decades this system has been in place, it has not served Ohio well. It has largely led to one-party control of state government for decades at a time and immunized many legislators from competitive elections.
Further, this system has contributed to the hyper-partisan atmosphere in state government (and in Congress) because the political leaders who run it can serve their partisan interests and arguably have more power in elections than the voters. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can reform the system. The time to act is now.
The Census, followed by the 2010 elections, will once again commence the redrawing of both legislative and congressional districts. Several constitutional amendments to reform the present system have been proposed," Jon Husted, Dayton Daily News. 
