Ohio redistricting thread

[Oryxslayer]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ohio-attorney-general-rejects-language-amendment-aimed-reforming-102510233

Can he theoretically just keep rejecting the language to ensure no redistricting reform ever ends up on the ballot? If so, why didn't he do so for other amendments such as abortion.

He can't, if it has enough signatures eventually there has to a vote on time. They had to get the Supreme Court to issue on 'confusions' around the wording of the 60% amendment and I think also the abortion one. Case in point, he initially had multiple complaints, now there was just one.


On another note, the present body tasked with legislative redistricting is in chaos over chairpersons and rules.

[Oryxslayer]

https://twitter.com/darreldrowland/status/1704137010582000093?t=qbQikEiZX6m6Q_P3...

Currently the commission is turmoil when compared to last time, but the Dems are still moving. LaRose said previously that the 22nd would be the latest date before it could lead to local impacts in the run up to 2024, and the body still hasn't agreed to co-chairs. DeWine has called for a meeting tomorrow, we'll see what happens.

Edit: and DeWine announced he has COVID, so will he attend?

[Oryxslayer]

Unsurprisingly, the body advanced the GOP plan to be the basis for consideration by 4-2. There will be 3 fast-scheduled input meetings over the next week.





These maps are designed to protect the supermajorities for 2024, since that's the only year these plans are likely to matter,  but not exactly go much further than that. Lots of safe seats are not or barely touched. The GOP already has the seats they need, so most stuff they hold is redder when compared to the competitive-mander, as well as most Dem stuff gets bluer. For example SD-16 around Columbus where overperforming Stephanie Kunze is retiring gets fully conceded to the Dems in exchange for shoring up SD-03 that got flipped in 2022. HD-23 in Lake is seemingly they only Dem seat that would become hard to win again, and there are others that numerically replace it.  Doing all this does though require some creativity:

[Mr.Phips]

Unsurprisingly, the body advanced the GOP plan to be the basis for consideration by 4-2. There will be 3 fast-scheduled input meetings over the next week.





These maps are designed to protect the supermajorities for 2024, since that's the only year these plans are likely to matter,  but not exactly go much further than that. Lots of safe seats are not or barely touched. The GOP already has the seats they need, so most stuff they hold is redder when compared to the competitive-mander, as well as most Dem stuff gets bluer. For example SD-16 around Columbus where overperforming Stephanie Kunze is retiring gets fully conceded to the Dems in exchange for shoring up SD-03 that got flipped in 2022. HD-23 in Lake is seemingly they only Dem seat that would become hard to win again, and there are others that numerically replace it.  Doing all this does though require some creativity:

So in the state senate, they are finally giving up on scooping Dayton out of Montgomery county and attaching it to blood red adjacent counties rather than just keeping the remainder of the district within Montgomery county?

[Oryxslayer]

Unsurprisingly, the body advanced the GOP plan to be the basis for consideration by 4-2. There will be 3 fast-scheduled input meetings over the next week.


These maps are designed to protect the supermajorities for 2024, since that's the only year these plans are likely to matter,  but not exactly go much further than that. Lots of safe seats are not or barely touched. The GOP already has the seats they need, so most stuff they hold is redder when compared to the competitive-mander, as well as most Dem stuff gets bluer. For example SD-16 around Columbus where overperforming Stephanie Kunze is retiring gets fully conceded to the Dems in exchange for shoring up SD-03 that got flipped in 2022. HD-23 in Lake is seemingly they only Dem seat that would become hard to win again, and there are others that numerically replace it.  Doing all this does though require some creativity:

So in the state senate, they are finally giving up on scooping Dayton out of Montgomery county and attaching it to blood red adjacent counties rather than just keeping the remainder of the district within Montgomery county?

Even with the Courts now aligned in their favor, the commission is still bound by the 'sensibility' rules that come with the body. Counties larger than a state senate seat have to nest a district, and it needs to include all or a significant part of the largest municipality. This is probably the best they could do - separating the city from the western suburbs -when you take into account how senate seats have to nest 3 state house seats, and there has to be an AA access district that comprises Dayton.

But it's not like they need to hold Dayton. It's one of the few marginal seats up in Presidential years - so harder to see split-ticketing. Declining Dem strength in the NW meant the Mahoning Valley could be easily sunk by neighboring counties. The gains made there at the end of last decade in provide enough of a buffer in theory for there still to be a supermajority if all the 'forced-to-be-drawn' Biden-won seats that are up in 2024 flip - and they might since 2/3 are open.

But of course this all matters solely for 2024 cause if the commission goes through as expected, the 2026 maps will actually be out of the hands of politicians, and it'll probably be impossible for the GOP to win supermajorities on them.

[Mr.Phips]

Unsurprisingly, the body advanced the GOP plan to be the basis for consideration by 4-2. There will be 3 fast-scheduled input meetings over the next week.


These maps are designed to protect the supermajorities for 2024, since that's the only year these plans are likely to matter,  but not exactly go much further than that. Lots of safe seats are not or barely touched. The GOP already has the seats they need, so most stuff they hold is redder when compared to the competitive-mander, as well as most Dem stuff gets bluer. For example SD-16 around Columbus where overperforming Stephanie Kunze is retiring gets fully conceded to the Dems in exchange for shoring up SD-03 that got flipped in 2022. HD-23 in Lake is seemingly they only Dem seat that would become hard to win again, and there are others that numerically replace it.  Doing all this does though require some creativity:

So in the state senate, they are finally giving up on scooping Dayton out of Montgomery county and attaching it to blood red adjacent counties rather than just keeping the remainder of the district within Montgomery county?

Even with the Courts now aligned in their favor, the commission is still bound by the 'sensibility' rules that come with the body. Counties larger than a state senate seat have to nest a district, and it needs to include all or a significant part of the largest municipality. This is probably the best they could do - separating the city from the western suburbs -when you take into account how senate seats have to nest 3 state house seats, and there has to be an AA access district that comprises Dayton.

If this is the case then how were they able to get away with taking OH-01 out of Hamilton county?

[Oryxslayer]

Unsurprisingly, the body advanced the GOP plan to be the basis for consideration by 4-2. There will be 3 fast-scheduled input meetings over the next week.


These maps are designed to protect the supermajorities for 2024, since that's the only year these plans are likely to matter,  but not exactly go much further than that. Lots of safe seats are not or barely touched. The GOP already has the seats they need, so most stuff they hold is redder when compared to the competitive-mander, as well as most Dem stuff gets bluer. For example SD-16 around Columbus where overperforming Stephanie Kunze is retiring gets fully conceded to the Dems in exchange for shoring up SD-03 that got flipped in 2022. HD-23 in Lake is seemingly they only Dem seat that would become hard to win again, and there are others that numerically replace it.  Doing all this does though require some creativity:

So in the state senate, they are finally giving up on scooping Dayton out of Montgomery county and attaching it to blood red adjacent counties rather than just keeping the remainder of the district within Montgomery county?

Even with the Courts now aligned in their favor, the commission is still bound by the 'sensibility' rules that come with the body. Counties larger than a state senate seat have to nest a district, and it needs to include all or a significant part of the largest municipality. This is probably the best they could do - separating the city from the western suburbs -when you take into account how senate seats have to nest 3 state house seats, and there has to be an AA access district that comprises Dayton.

If this is the case then how were they able to get away with taking OH-01 out of Hamilton county?

In counties with a population exceeding the number of residents to be in a congressional district, the first of the following two steps that applies to the county must be taken by the mapmakers:

If a municipality located in a county contains a population exceeding the number of residents to be in a congressional district, then mapmakers would be required to include a significant portion of the municipality in the district and would be allowed to include other municipalities in the county whose residents have similar interests.

If a municipality located in a county contains between 100,000 residents and the number of residents in a congressional district, mapmakers would be prohibited from splitting the municipality. If a county includes two or more municipalities with that number of residents, then mapmakers would be prohibited from splitting the largest municipality.

This concerns congressional lines. Nothing preventing the split of Hamilton as long as Cincinnati is kept whole (it is) and the district is oriented around said city (70% in Hamilton).

State Senate: Composed of 3 contiguous House districts; Counties only split if contain more than the ideal Senate district population and, if so, remaining territory in the county can only be assigned to one adjoining Senate district. If not possible to draw House districts that would allow the Commission to comply with all House and Senate district requirements, Commission must violate as few Senate requirements as possible. [Ohio Const. art. XI, § 4]

State House: Max +/- 5% population deviation; Contiguous; Counties only split when necessary and, where feasible, no counties split more than once. Minimize splits of municipal corporations and townships containing more than 50% but less than 100% of the ideal district population; If necessary to split, only one municipal corporation or township can be split per House district. If not possible to comply with the above splitting rules for any particular district, the Commission must take the first of the following actions, in order of priority, that is possible: Split two municipalities whose contiguous portions don’t contain a population between 50% and 100% of the ideal population; Split one municipality whose contiguous portions contain between 50% and 100% of the ideal population; Split a single county once which contains between 95% and 105% of the ideal population; Include in two districts the remaining territory of a county containing more than 105% of the ideal population after that county has been divided into as many districts as it has ideal population for. [Ohio Const. art. XI, § 3]

Both: Commission must attempt to comply with all of the following: Compact; No plan drawn primarily to favor or disfavor a political party; Statewide proportion of districts whose voters favor each political party must correspond closely to the statewide preferences of Ohio voters. [Ohio Const. art. XI, § 6]

State legislative legalese. It's different and complex, but seemingly the various nesting and cut metrics basically necessitate it for a 4.x Stater House district county, if you are approaching it from the perspective of separating the city and the majority-minuity suburbs into two different districts. I'm not aware any of the maps the GOP drew this decade attempted to maintain the 2010 treatment of Dayton, with the exception of the very first draft that immediately got left on the cutting room floor. You'd think they would have tried if they could: this map for example makes SD-06 about 1% more Biden compared to the competitive-mander, a result of contorting the marginally-won HD-36 from a Biden+6 to Trump+7.5 and the packing it forces to the Dayton SH seat.

[Gass3268]

Some changes were made (not sure what), and these maps got unanimous support of the board and will be locked in for the next 8 years.

https://twitter.com/ECaliberSeven/status/1706860747173798393?s=20

[Nyvin]

The Dayton Senate seat is 55.2% Biden now,  it gained Trotwood and lost Miamisburg.  That's probably the biggest change on the Senate map, SD-24 got a bit more R, so did a few others like SD-2.

DRA Senate - https://davesredistricting.org/join/e5122c05-246d-4bed-ac5f-0aa372a5253e

The Dems floor got better, but kind of a hard ceiling of around ~12 or 13 seats now, and even that'll be tough.

[politicallefty]

Delaware County with Holmes County certainly makes a lot of sense. 

[Oryxslayer]

Some changes were made (not sure what), and these maps got unanimous support of the board and will be locked in for the next 8 years.

Unless the proposed amendment in circulation passes, at which point we will be back here in 2025. See you all then!

The Dayton Senate seat is 55.2% Biden now,  it gained Trotwood and lost Miamisburg.  That's probably the biggest change on the Senate map, SD-24 got a bit more R, so did a few others like SD-2.

The Dems floor got better, but kind of a hard ceiling of around ~12 or 13 seats now, and even that'll be tough.

House: https://davesredistricting.org/join/6c57f54e-eee4-4f75-83b8-5f825f6cf9e2 State House

Compared to the initial draft there remains a few more competitive D leaning seats, mostly around Cleveland to the point that no Dem is actually drawn out of their seat politically. The 11th seat in Columbus remains swingy rather than Safe R, and there actually is now a seat winnable for Dems in Delaware.

Also there is a third Safe D seat in Toledo to the one R seat, whereas under the competative-mander it was two GOP-won hyper-marginal seats, and in the first draft a R seat and more Dem-favoring swing seat. So someone must be retiring.

Looking overall at the House map, while things seemingly get overall worse for Dems, the concentration of competition to fewer seats that are more winnable than previously makes immediate success more possible. It's seems more likely than not the Dems will break the supermajority there for what its worth, if the environment isn't radically different or they blow candidate nominations. That must be the House caucus cashing in their goodwill from the fight over the speakership in January, and why the dems voted for their maps. And in their minds, the maps will be gone in 2025 so that immediate goal is enough.

Also, why the absurd treatment of Athens? It's not outvoting those neighbors needed for population equity under normal circumstances.

[politicallefty]

How do these maps compare with the maps in place right now? I have to say that it's startling to me how Republicans have a nearly 80/20 majority in the state Senate. Not even some of the reddest of the red are that imbalanced. There is no reason why the Ohio Senate should look like the Utah Senate or Idaho Senate.

[Tekken_Guy]

Some changes were made (not sure what), and these maps got unanimous support of the board and will be locked in for the next 8 years.

Unless the proposed amendment in circulation passes, at which point we will be back here in 2025. See you all then!

The Dayton Senate seat is 55.2% Biden now,  it gained Trotwood and lost Miamisburg.  That's probably the biggest change on the Senate map, SD-24 got a bit more R, so did a few others like SD-2.

The Dems floor got better, but kind of a hard ceiling of around ~12 or 13 seats now, and even that'll be tough.

House: https://davesredistricting.org/join/6c57f54e-eee4-4f75-83b8-5f825f6cf9e2 State House

Compared to the initial draft there remains a few more competitive D leaning seats, mostly around Cleveland to the point that no Dem is actually drawn out of their seat politically. The 11th seat in Columbus remains swingy rather than Safe R, and there actually is now a seat winnable for Dems in Delaware.

Also there is a third Safe D seat in Toledo to the one R seat, whereas under the competative-mander it was two GOP-won hyper-marginal seats, and in the first draft a R seat and more Dem-favoring swing seat. So someone must be retiring.

Looking overall at the House map, while things seemingly get overall worse for Dems, the concentration of competition to fewer seats that are more winnable than previously makes immediate success more possible. It's seems more likely than not the Dems will break the supermajority there for what its worth, if the environment isn't radically different or they blow candidate nominations. That must be the House caucus cashing in their goodwill from the fight over the speakership in January, and why the dems voted for their maps. And in their minds, the maps will be gone in 2025 so that immediate goal is enough.

Also, why the absurd treatment of Athens? It's not outvoting those neighbors needed for population equity under normal circumstances.

Derek Merrin held the western Lucas seat and is term-limited, but Josh Williams who won the eastern seat moved westward, so the western seat is the GOP-leaning one and the eastern-one conceded to Dems.

[Oryxslayer]

https://twitter.com/jbalmert/status/1707019905479196872?t=IOiO0x421MYQ0jpUsgFy0A...

That neatly summarizes it doesn't it? Dems and Reps both get something of what they wanted, transformed competitive seats into safer ones when viable, and protected their own. But the big picture is still not good, nor is it a rational map - just look at inner Wood and Athens.

[Mr.Phips]

https://twitter.com/jbalmert/status/1707019905479196872?t=IOiO0x421MYQ0jpUsgFy0A...

That neatly summarizes it doesn't it? Dems and Reps both get something of what they wanted, transformed competitive seats into safer ones when viable, and protected their own. But the big picture is still not good, nor is it a rational map - just look at inner Wood and Athens.

Also what’s the deal with scooping out Youngstown and putting it in a red district?

[Oryxslayer]

https://twitter.com/jbalmert/status/1707019905479196872?t=IOiO0x421MYQ0jpUsgFy0A...

That neatly summarizes it doesn't it? Dems and Reps both get something of what they wanted, transformed competitive seats into safer ones when viable, and protected their own. But the big picture is still not good, nor is it a rational map - just look at inner Wood and Athens.

Also what’s the deal with scooping out Youngstown and putting it in a red district?

It's not? Unless you are referring to the state senate in which case the Mahoning valley counties have been separated for a while. They'll only come back together in some form under the citizens commission, since it'll be a marginal senate seat in a region that could be all R.



This was the compatitive-mander previously in place for 2022. It did scoop out Youngstown and have two Trump seats. This was done because under the statewide average election data ordered to be used, both seats were competitive, even D-favoring. So the GOP could create a new seat for themselves while pretending to create a new Dem one.

Except that's not what happened. Republican's screwed up their candidates and ended up with nobody in HD-59. So the Dem won with 40%, to two independents that divided most of the rest, despite not exactly being very Conservative.



This is the map that just was approved. The districts return to their original numbering from last decade, with 58 in the city and 59 in the exterior, rather than the other way. The incumbents in both districts likely just swap given their residencies. This version is 56-43 Biden, 55.5-44.5 Ryan. While that could be better for Dems if the seat contained Boardman and nearer suburbs, they are unlikely to lose this seat since it's now close to 30% African American. 

[ProgressiveModerate]

Nasty. One thing that makes OH a bit unique is especially in NE OH, you have a lot of light red suburbs that have been stagnant or shifting away from Dems, so the OH GOP doesn't feel the need to do the "trend-mander" as much as we see Rs do on a lot of other state legislative maps.

Still, both maps should yield OHGOP a supermajority in most cycles, but as another said Dems have a narrow path to break it in both chambers but their ceiling is pretty hard and a majority is completely out of the question (which tbf is kinda gonna be the case on even a fair OH map).

The previous state House map was sort of absurd because the court mandated proportionality, and then the OH GOP drew a bunch of very narrow Biden districts around the state most which voted for state leg Rs in 2022.

[Oryxslayer]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ohio-attorney-general-rejects-language-amendment-aimed-reforming-102510233

Can he theoretically just keep rejecting the language to ensure no redistricting reform ever ends up on the ballot? If so, why didn't he do so for other amendments such as abortion.

He can't, if it has enough signatures eventually there has to a vote on time. They had to get the Supreme Court to issue on 'confusions' around the wording of the 60% amendment and I think also the abortion one. Case in point, he initially had multiple complaints, now there was just one.


On another note, the present body tasked with legislative redistricting is in chaos over chairpersons and rules.

https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/1708930275797840148?t=UPUfxAJ_JgMOErctoRApWQ&am...

To the surprise of nobody. Once again,  you legitimacy cannot attempt to run out the clock like this. Deadline for signatures is the easily achievable July 2024.

[politicallefty]

After some final hiccups, the proposed amendment has finally been cleared for signature gathering:

The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted Monday to advance the proposal for the second time after organizers restarted the process because of a typographical error in the summary of the petition. In both cases, the board could have split the proposal into multiple issues, requiring the campaign to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures for each one.

But, as it did in October, the board took a unanimous and bipartisan vote at the Ohio Statehouse to let the proposal advance as a single issue. Don McTigue, an attorney representing the backers of the proposal, told the ballot board that only the typo in the summary was fixed and that the amendment itself was unchanged.

Citizens Not Politicians, the group backing the amendment, now can begin the process of collecting more than 400,000 signatures from 44 of 88 Ohio counties before a July deadline to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

As mentioned before, it would create a 15-member commission (5D-5R-5I). Any act of the commission would require 9 votes (and at least two each of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents). The amendment also requires the commission to redraw the lines in 2025. From what it looks like, it does appear to place proportionality as the highest consideration after meeting all federal requirements (Constitution and federal law).

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

After some final hiccups, the proposed amendment has finally been cleared for signature gathering:

The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted Monday to advance the proposal for the second time after organizers restarted the process because of a typographical error in the summary of the petition. In both cases, the board could have split the proposal into multiple issues, requiring the campaign to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures for each one.

But, as it did in October, the board took a unanimous and bipartisan vote at the Ohio Statehouse to let the proposal advance as a single issue. Don McTigue, an attorney representing the backers of the proposal, told the ballot board that only the typo in the summary was fixed and that the amendment itself was unchanged.

Citizens Not Politicians, the group backing the amendment, now can begin the process of collecting more than 400,000 signatures from 44 of 88 Ohio counties before a July deadline to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

As mentioned before, it would create a 15-member commission (5D-5R-5I). Any act of the commission would require 9 votes (and at least two each of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents). The amendment also requires the commission to redraw the lines in 2025. From what it looks like, it does appear to place proportionality as the highest consideration after meeting all federal requirements (Constitution and federal law).

How are the independents selected?

[MaxQue]

After some final hiccups, the proposed amendment has finally been cleared for signature gathering:

The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted Monday to advance the proposal for the second time after organizers restarted the process because of a typographical error in the summary of the petition. In both cases, the board could have split the proposal into multiple issues, requiring the campaign to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures for each one.

But, as it did in October, the board took a unanimous and bipartisan vote at the Ohio Statehouse to let the proposal advance as a single issue. Don McTigue, an attorney representing the backers of the proposal, told the ballot board that only the typo in the summary was fixed and that the amendment itself was unchanged.

Citizens Not Politicians, the group backing the amendment, now can begin the process of collecting more than 400,000 signatures from 44 of 88 Ohio counties before a July deadline to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

As mentioned before, it would create a 15-member commission (5D-5R-5I). Any act of the commission would require 9 votes (and at least two each of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents). The amendment also requires the commission to redraw the lines in 2025. From what it looks like, it does appear to place proportionality as the highest consideration after meeting all federal requirements (Constitution and federal law).

How are the independents selected?

All 15 positions appointed by a commission of 4 retired judges (2 of each party), themselves appointed by the 4 members of the Ballot Board appointed by the State Legislature.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

After some final hiccups, the proposed amendment has finally been cleared for signature gathering:

The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted Monday to advance the proposal for the second time after organizers restarted the process because of a typographical error in the summary of the petition. In both cases, the board could have split the proposal into multiple issues, requiring the campaign to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures for each one.

But, as it did in October, the board took a unanimous and bipartisan vote at the Ohio Statehouse to let the proposal advance as a single issue. Don McTigue, an attorney representing the backers of the proposal, told the ballot board that only the typo in the summary was fixed and that the amendment itself was unchanged.

Citizens Not Politicians, the group backing the amendment, now can begin the process of collecting more than 400,000 signatures from 44 of 88 Ohio counties before a July deadline to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

As mentioned before, it would create a 15-member commission (5D-5R-5I). Any act of the commission would require 9 votes (and at least two each of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents). The amendment also requires the commission to redraw the lines in 2025. From what it looks like, it does appear to place proportionality as the highest consideration after meeting all federal requirements (Constitution and federal law).

How are the independents selected?

All 15 positions appointed by a commission of 4 retired judges (2 of each party), themselves appointed by the 4 members of the Ballot Board appointed by the State Legislature.

Wouldn’t the state legislature just appoint Republicans and DINOs to the ballot board? 

[politicallefty]

After some final hiccups, the proposed amendment has finally been cleared for signature gathering:

The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted Monday to advance the proposal for the second time after organizers restarted the process because of a typographical error in the summary of the petition. In both cases, the board could have split the proposal into multiple issues, requiring the campaign to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures for each one.

But, as it did in October, the board took a unanimous and bipartisan vote at the Ohio Statehouse to let the proposal advance as a single issue. Don McTigue, an attorney representing the backers of the proposal, told the ballot board that only the typo in the summary was fixed and that the amendment itself was unchanged.

Citizens Not Politicians, the group backing the amendment, now can begin the process of collecting more than 400,000 signatures from 44 of 88 Ohio counties before a July deadline to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

As mentioned before, it would create a 15-member commission (5D-5R-5I). Any act of the commission would require 9 votes (and at least two each of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents). The amendment also requires the commission to redraw the lines in 2025. From what it looks like, it does appear to place proportionality as the highest consideration after meeting all federal requirements (Constitution and federal law).

How are the independents selected?

All 15 positions appointed by a commission of 4 retired judges (2 of each party), themselves appointed by the 4 members of the Ballot Board appointed by the State Legislature.

When it comes to choosing the retired judges, each side on the Ballot Board picks 8 from which the other side will pick 2. In other words, Democrats will put forward a list of 8 retired judges and Republicans will put forward a list of 8 retired judges. Republicans will pick 2 from the Democratic list and Democrats will pick 2 from the Republican list. That's basically the first stage of the process.

I don't think this was the final text submitted, but I think it's close enough (link-PDF).

[MaxQue]

After some final hiccups, the proposed amendment has finally been cleared for signature gathering:

The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted Monday to advance the proposal for the second time after organizers restarted the process because of a typographical error in the summary of the petition. In both cases, the board could have split the proposal into multiple issues, requiring the campaign to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures for each one.

But, as it did in October, the board took a unanimous and bipartisan vote at the Ohio Statehouse to let the proposal advance as a single issue. Don McTigue, an attorney representing the backers of the proposal, told the ballot board that only the typo in the summary was fixed and that the amendment itself was unchanged.

Citizens Not Politicians, the group backing the amendment, now can begin the process of collecting more than 400,000 signatures from 44 of 88 Ohio counties before a July deadline to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

As mentioned before, it would create a 15-member commission (5D-5R-5I). Any act of the commission would require 9 votes (and at least two each of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents). The amendment also requires the commission to redraw the lines in 2025. From what it looks like, it does appear to place proportionality as the highest consideration after meeting all federal requirements (Constitution and federal law).

How are the independents selected?

All 15 positions appointed by a commission of 4 retired judges (2 of each party), themselves appointed by the 4 members of the Ballot Board appointed by the State Legislature.

Wouldn’t the state legislature just appoint Republicans and DINOs to the ballot board? 

Appointments are made by both State Majority leaders (one each) and the State Minority Leader (one each).

[windjammer]

How easy is it to collect these signatures?