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.

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