{"id":1999,"date":"2024-12-19T12:12:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T17:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/?post_type=resource&p=1999"},"modified":"2025-01-06T10:36:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T15:36:27","slug":"the-battle-to-end-gerrymandering-in-ohio","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/resources\/the-battle-to-end-gerrymandering-in-ohio\/","title":{"rendered":"The Battle to End Gerrymandering in Ohio"},"template":"","class_list":["post-1999","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"","featured_image":"","resource_type":false,"authors":"","related_issues":[62,420],"related_work":false,"location":38},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"The Battle to End Gerrymandering in Ohio started Decades Ago<\/b>\r\n\r\nActivists 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.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn 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\u2013as 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\u2019t deliver on any of these new requirements.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAfter 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) \u2013 including the governor, auditor, and secretary of state \u2013 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.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Ohio Redistricting Commission ignored the Ohio Supreme Court \u2013 and the will of the voters \u2013 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 <\/span>Ohio Redistricting Timeline<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, 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\u2013again! We joined the <\/span>Citizens Not Politicians<\/b> campaign and signed on to work towards establishing a truly independent citizens redistricting commission free from the influence of politicians and political parties.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nCitizens Not Politicians<\/b>\r\n\r\nThe Citizens Not Politicians (CNP) campaign was born out of Ohio\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe 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\u2019t 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<\/a> about the proposed amendment language<\/span>.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nThe CNP campaign was headed up in part by former Chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O\u2019Connor. O\u2019Connor voted with the majority seven times to strike down gerrymandered maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission in 2021 and 2022. O\u2019Connor was joined by top Ohio and national redistricting experts to design the best independent citizens redistricting commission amendment possible. <\/span>\r\n\r\nIn a concurring opinion striking down the very first gerrymandered map, O\u2019Connor said, <\/span>\u201c...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.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nShe went on to conclude, <\/span>\u201cHaving now seen firsthand that the current Ohio Redistricting Commission \u2014 comprised of statewide elected officials and partisan legislators\u2014is seemingly unwilling to put aside partisan concerns as directed by the people\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\nWe Fought Hard for Fair Districts in 2024<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn 2024, Ohioans all across the state fought hard to take the redistricting process away from elected officials and give the power to draw the lines to an independent citizens redistricting commission. Common Cause Ohio worked with the Citizens Not Politicians<\/a> campaign to ban gerrymandering in Ohio once and for all. \u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nVolunteer teams across the state organized by Common Cause Ohio and our coalition partners did heroic work collecting signatures, educating the public, and fighting for fair maps and a stronger democracy. This work will have a lasting impact!<\/span>\r\n\r\nHere are some stats about the work Common Cause members and our coalition partners did together in 2023-2024:<\/span>\r\n