Proposal to create a new political mapmaking system in Ohio qualifies for November ballot

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A proposal to change Ohio’s troubled political mapmaking system has qualified for November's statewide ballot, the state's elections chief announced Tuesday.

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the bipartisan Citizens Not Politicians had submitted 535,005 valid signatures in 58 counties, well over the roughly 414,000 needed to appear on ballots this fall. The campaign submitted more than 700,000 petition signatures on July 1.

The constitutional amendment's next stop is the Ohio Ballot Board, which must sign off on the ballot language and title.

The amendment aims to replace the current Ohio Redistricting Commission, made up of three statewide officeholders and four state lawmakers, with an independent body selected directly by citizens. The new panel’s members would be diversified by party affiliation and geography.

The effort follows the existing structure’s repeated failure to produce constitutional maps. During the protracted process for redrawing district boundaries to account for results of the 2020 Census, challenges filed in court resulted in two congressional maps and five sets of Statehouse maps being rejected as unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

Retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, who presided over the high court during the legal battle, called the certification “a historic step towards restoring fairness in Ohio’s electoral process.”

“With this amendment on the ballot, Ohioans have the chance to reclaim their power from the self-serving politicians who want to stay in power long past their expiration date while ignoring the needs of the voters,” the Republican said in a statement.

A month after the ballot campaign was announced, the bipartisan Ohio Redistricting Commission voted unanimously to approve new Statehouse maps, with minority Democrats conceding to “better, fairer” maps that nonetheless continued to deliver the state’s ruling Republicans a robust political advantage.

That same September, congressional district maps favoring Republicans were put in place, too, after the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed a group of legal challenges at the request of the voting-rights groups that had brought them. The groups told the court that continuing to pursue the lawsuits against the GOP-drawn maps brought turmoil not in the best interests of Ohio voters.