Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
Current Process: Congressional Districts
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
Who has final authority to pass maps?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
Politicians choose the maps. Seven politicians make up a commission and pass state house and senate district maps. The members include the governor, the auditor, the secretary of state, and the four general assembly majority and minority leaders or their designees.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
Politicians choose the maps. The General Assembly or the seven-member commission passes a congressional district map.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
Ohio citizens choose the maps. A 15-member citizen commission would draw both state legislative and congressional district maps. The citizens’ commission would be multi-partisan and include five Republicans, five Democrats, and five Independents. Politicians, lobbyists, and other political insiders could not serve.
How are map drawers screened?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
There is no screening process. Politicians on the seven-member commission draw the legislative maps.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
There is no screening process. Politicians in the General Assembly or the seven-member commission draw the congressional map.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
A panel of four retired judges would assess applications and conduct applicant interviews. The bipartisan panel would screen for conflicts of interest, eligibility, qualifications, and the applicants’ commitment to fairness. Applicant pools would also be narrowed to reflect Ohio’s geographic and demographic diversity.
Who can provide map drawers assistance?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
Whoever the politicians choose. There are no restrictions, and partisan operatives generally provide technical assistance and draft maps as directed by the specific politicians who hired them.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
Whoever the politicians choose. As with legislative redistricting, there are no restrictions on working with partisan operatives and political insiders.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
Mapping and legal experts who would be screened for fairness by citizen commissioners. Citizen commissioners would hire mapping experts and legal advisers through a public bid process where experts would submit applications and go through screening. Experts would work with all commissioners regardless of partisan affiliation.
What transparency provisions exist?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
There are no redistricting-specific transparency requirements. Partisan operatives tend to work behind closed doors to produce draft state house and senate maps and unveil them just before public hearings. Sometimes even politicians from the same party do not get access to the operatives during drafting or to the maps until the last moment.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
There are no redistricting-specific transparency requirements. As with legislative redistricting, partisan operatives tend to work out of public view to produce draft congressional maps that favor the party in control. Often, the work is heavily influenced by national party interests rather than the concerns of Ohioans.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
The citizen commission process would occur in full public view. Citizen commissioners would do their work in open meetings and invite broad public participation. They would be obligated to make all necessary data available and create a website for public comment submissions. All draft and proposed final maps would be released well in advance of meetings.
What are the public input requirements?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
Politicians are not required to incorporate public input. The politician commission is required to hold three public hearings after draft maps are released. But the politicians do not have to take public input into account.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
Politicians are not required to incorporate public input. The general assembly is required to hold two public committee hearings on a proposed map and allow the public to submit maps. But the politicians are not required to take public input or submissions into account or explain their decisions.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
Citizen commissioners would seek and incorporate public input in all phases of map drawing. Citizen commissioners would gather public input and feedback in at least twelve hearings across the state: five before mapping begins, five after draft maps are released, and two prior to a final vote. The commission must also explain how it made its mapping decisions and how public input is reflected in the final maps.
What safeguards limit backroom lobbying?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
There are no limits on outside influence. Politicians can communicate freely with lobbyists, partisan operatives, and other special interests in backroom conversations without public disclosure. There are no prohibitions against back-channel communications.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
There are no limits on outside influence. As with legislative redistricting, there are no safeguards against secret backroom deals, self-dealing, and lobbying during congressional redistricting.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
There would be strict rules against using back channels to influence map drawing. Citizen commissioners and the hired experts would be prohibited from discussing mapping decisions in private with individuals seeking to influence the process. Any attempted back-channel communications would be reported and could be made public to maintain public confidence.
Can map drawers be removed for misconduct?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
There are no provisions for the removal of politicians for redistricting-related misconduct. Politicians can participate in legislative redistricting if they are in office, no matter what their redistricting-related misbehavior entails.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
There are no provisions for the removal of politicians for redistricting-related misconduct. As with legislative redistricting, there is no way to remove politicians from the process for abusing the redistricting process.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
There would be a process for removing commissioners who fail to act in the public interest. Citizen commissioners could be expelled for colluding with outside actors, failing to disclose necessary information, neglecting their duties, or engaging in misconduct.
What is the vote threshold to pass maps?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
Politicians can pass maps by a simple majority on a party-line vote. There is no requirement for politicians to reach bipartisan consensus.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
Politicians can pass a map by a simple majority on a party-line vote. As with legislative redistricting, there is no requirement to compromise or work across the aisle.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
Citizen commissioners would pass maps by a supermajority multi-partisan vote. At least two Republicans, two Democrats, and two independents must vote in favor to pass maps.
What protections exist against gerrymandering?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
There are no meaningful safeguards. Politicians can split up communities and gerrymander with little consequence. Even when the Ohio Supreme Court struck down unconstitutional maps in the past, politicians defied court orders and drew blatantly manipulated districts. As a result, Ohio has some of the most skewed maps in the country.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
There are no meaningful safeguards. As with legislative redistricting, there are no safeguards that prevent politicians from gerrymandering congressional maps.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
Mandatory rules would require district maps to correspond to voter preference. Citizen commissioners would be required to produce maps that reflect the will of Ohio voters. Other criteria would also instruct the commission on preserving communities that have shared interests and political needs.
What does judicial review look like?
Current Process: State House & Senate Districts
The Ohio Supreme Court can hear challenges but cannot remedy unconstitutional maps. Without the ability to take map drawing away from politicians, the court has been unable to stop unconstitutional and gerrymandered maps from being used in elections. Politicians have proven willing to ignore court orders in pursuit of gerrymandered maps.
Current Process: Congressional Districts
The Ohio Supreme Court can hear challenges but cannot remedy unconstitutional maps. As with legislative redistricting, the court is prohibited from replacing politician-drawn gerrymandered congressional districts with a fair map by the current provisions in the Ohio Constitution.
Citizens Not Politicians Process: State House & Senate and Congressional Districts
The Ohio Supreme Court would have guidelines for assessing maps and, if necessary, establishing new districts. The court would be provided a clear standard and process to identify maps that fail to correspond to the preferences of Ohio voters. The court would also have the help of independent mapping experts and an ability to draw districts should that be necessary.
