Ohio voters approved a ballot measure on Tuesday that changes the congressional mapmaking process.
Ohio voters approved a ballot measure on Tuesday that changes the congressional mapmaking process, a move proponents say will rein in excessive partisan gerrymandering.
By passing the ballot measure, called Issue 1, Ohioans amended their state Constitution to create four different pathways to draw congressional districts. The new process will go into effect in 2021, when the next round of redistricting takes place.
The complex process still leaves redistricting primarily in the hands of lawmakers, but it also builds in significant safeguards intended to prevent one party from shutting the other out of the process and drawing a severely unfair map.
Ohioans adopted the measure at a time when there is a strong push to limit the ability state lawmakers have to draw a map that benefits the party in power. While both Democrats and Republicans across the U.S. have gerrymandered to their advantage throughout the decades, critics say that Republicans took it to an extreme level in 2011. By the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide two cases that could, for the first time, set constitutional limits on how far lawmakers can draw district lines to benefit their parties.
The Ohio plan had overwhelming bipartisan support in the state legislature when lawmakers approved it for the May ballot. It reaches a middle ground between giving lawmakers control over redistricting and letting independent commissions draw congressional lines ― a step some states have taken in an effort to limit political redistricting.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ohio-gerrymandering-reform_us_5af1a93ee4b0ab5c3d6a0bd2?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016§ion=politics
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