The Battle to End Gerrymandering in Ohio started Decades Ago

Activists and advocates have been fighting to end gerrymandering in Ohio for decades. The first official efforts were in 1981. Reform initiatives got on the ballot but did not pass in both 2005 and 2012. Evidently, gerrymandering is a tough nut to crack when politicians are in control of the process. As much as reformers care about the issue, politicians in power realize that controlling the redistricting process is crucial for them to remain in power. 

In 2015 (for state legislative redistricting) and 2018 (for Congressional redistricting) amendments banning gerrymandering were added to the Ohio Constitution. Even though these were compromise measures, Ohioans expected and deserved for the redistricting process going forward to be fairer–as required by the new rules in the constitution. They expected transparency, public participation, proportional representation, and maps that kept communities together. Sadly, with politicians still in charge of the process, the process didn’t deliver on any of these new requirements. 

After the census in 2020, a drawn out redistricting process in 2021 and 2022 ended in heartbreak for redistricting advocates. The politicians on the Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) could not resist the temptation to rig maps to favor themselves and their political party. They drew districts in secret and manipulated the maps to advantage the political party in power. All seven maps drawn by the ORC (two for US Congress and five sets of Ohio House and Senate maps) were struck down as unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court. 

The Ohio Redistricting Commission ignored the Ohio Supreme Court – and the will of the voters – by repeatedly approving gerrymandered districts. They made it clear that the pressure or desire to manipulate district lines was simply too much for elected officials. You can follow every step of the tortured and drawn out redistricting cycle in this 2021-2023 Ohio Redistricting Timeline.

Meanwhile, Common Cause Ohio and our coalition of redistricting reformers Fair Districts spent 2023 laying the ground for a citizens initiative to amend the Ohio Constitution–again! We joined the Citizens Not Politicians campaign and signed on to work towards establishing a truly independent citizens redistricting commission free from the influence of politicians and political parties. 

Citizens Not Politicians

The Citizens Not Politicians (CNP) campaign was born out of Ohio’s tortured and heart-breaking redistricting cycle in 2021-2022. During the drawn out and broken process, preparations to take the issue back to the voters via a ballot initiative were underway. The idea was to make sure that CITIZENS were 100% in control of the process, with self-serving politicians ineligible to serve on the commission. The basic structure proposed was a 15-member commission made up of five Republican citizen commissioners, 5 Democrats, and 5 independents unaffiliated with either major party. 

The amendment language was drafted with Common Cause national redistricting experts at the table and extensive input from Common Cause Ohio. The experts who drafted the policy were able to look at what did and didn’t work well in other states currently drawing voting districts with independent commissions. The resulting proposed ballot language was unquestionably the most thorough, thoughtful, and politician-proof possible. It even contained language to ban prison gerrymandering, a pernicious practice where the prisoner populations are counted in the (mostly rural) districts where they are incarcerated instead of counting in their home counties (mostly urban). Take a look at this FAQ page about the proposed amendment language.

The CNP campaign was headed up in part by former Chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O’Connor. O’Connor voted with the majority seven times to strike down gerrymandered maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission in 2021 and 2022. O’Connor was joined by top Ohio and national redistricting experts to design the best independent citizens redistricting commission amendment possible.

In a concurring opinion striking down the very first gerrymandered map, O’Connor said, “…readers should know that other models of the redistricting process exist. In other states, voters have elected ballot measures that strip redistricting authority from state legislatures and partisan officeholders and place it instead with nonpartisan redistricting commissions.” 

She went on to conclude, “Having now seen firsthand that the current Ohio Redistricting Commission — comprised of statewide elected officials and partisan legislators—is seemingly unwilling to put aside partisan concerns as directed by the people’s vote, Ohioans may opt to pursue further constitutional amendment to replace the current commission with a truly independent, nonpartisan commission that more effectively distances the redistricting process from partisan politics.”

Deceptive ballot language – poison pill

Not surprisingly, opposition to the Citizens Not Politicians amendment came from the very politicians who would have their unearned power stripped away if the amendment passed. One thing was clear: they knew that Ohioans hated gerrymandering, and that arguing in favor of rigged maps was not possible. So they made the stone cold decision to openly lie to Ohioans about the proposed amendment and say that the amendment “required gerrymandering” – literally the opposite of the truth. They accomplished this feat by having the Ohio Ballot Board write deceptive, misleading, and inaccurate ballot language that voters would see when they went in to cast their ballots. Additionally, in a red-wave year, the fact that Donald Trump urged Ohioans to vote NO clearly played a role in the defeat.

Lies and confusion won on November 5, 2024. But redistricting reformers in Ohio are tough and will live to fight another day!

This was a bitter loss, BUT, much gained in the process of the fight

As much as losing hurt after so much work by so many in so many places across the state, much was gained in the course of the fight for fair maps. First of all, we organized and built power. We drafted, nurtured, and supported grassroots leaders across the state. We built community. We educated Ohioans about gerrymandering and the need for a fair redistricting process. We backed cheating politicians into a corner where their only out was to mislead voters about what was in the Citizens Not Politicians amendment.

Click here to read the email we sent to supporters on election night.