Three ballot initiatives to reform redistricting failed before Ohio voters passed changes for the Statehouse maps in 2015 and for Congress in 2018. One of the key backers of those efforts says it’s important to remember that when determining the next steps now.
Common Cause Ohio’s Catherine Turcer is frustrated with the new maps from the Ohio Redistricting Commission that are gerrymandered to give Republicans supermajorities at the Statehouse. She says that’s not what Ohioans wanted when they overwhelmingly voted to change the process. But she says the top priorities are legal options and the upcoming Congressional map, and not another ballot initiative….at least not right now.
“It makes sense to take what we learn during this map-making cycle and apply it to whatever the reforms we need to do are next,” Turcer says.
Turcer says future ballot issues should be well thought out and planned carefully. State lawmakers are supposed to produce a congressional map with one less district by the end of this month. But it’s likely that won’t happen until November.
