FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: October 27 2025
Contact: Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio 614-579-5509

People’s Watch to the Ohio Redistricting Commission: “Announce the Next Meeting — The People Are Watching.”

Columbus, OH — With the constitutional deadline for new congressional maps expiring October 31, The People’s Watch is calling on the Ohio Redistricting Commission to immediately announce its next public meeting and release proposed maps for public review.

Commission member Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) made clear to reporters that the map process remains a closed, insider affair:

“We’re not going to just show all of our notes in public while you’re trying to have discussions between legislative leaders about what they wouldn’t support.”

The People’s Watch said Stewart’s statement confirms that map decisions are being made by a few partisan leaders behind closed doors while the full commission and the public are left out.

“Ohio voters approved the rules for congressional mapmaking that are in the Ohio Constitution.  Voters expect transparency and fair mapmaking,” said Catherine Turcer of Common Cause Ohio, organizer with The People’s Watch, a project of the Fair Districts coalition. “Instead, we’re watching politicians hide the maps and talk about the seats they ‘want to get.’ That’s not democracy — that’s manipulation.”

The group pointed out that the Commission swore an oath to uphold Ohio’s Constitution, which requires bipartisan approval of fair maps through a transparent process.

“This is exactly why the People’s Watch exists,” said Rev. Dan Clark from Faith in Public Life. “They draw the lines; we draw the light. Ohioans voted for fairness, not secrecy.”

The People’s Watch Demands:

1. The next Commission meeting be publicly announced immediately.
2. All draft maps be released for review before the October 31 deadline.
3. Voters with shared common social, cultural, racial, and/or economic interests be kept together in the same district to ensure more effective and responsive representation.