GOP Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine opposes fall ballot effort to replace troubled political mapmaking system

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he will work to defeat a fall ballot issue aimed at remaking the state’s troubled political mapmaking system, and, if it passes, work with state lawmakers next year to advance a competing amendment based on the Iowa model.

At a news conference complete with corroborating visuals, DeWine contended that rules laid out in the Citizens Not Politicians amendment would divide communities and mandate outcomes that fit “the classic definition of gerrymandering.” He took specific aim at the proposal's requirement for partisan proportionality in the maps.

“Now, the idea of proportionality sounds fair," he said. "However, we see that requiring the map drawer to draw districts, each of which favors one political party, with each district having a predetermined partisan advantage, and requiring a certain number of districts to favor each party, obliterates all other good government objectives. They all go away.”

DeWine said Iowa's system — in which mapmakers are prohibited from consulting past election results or protecting individual lawmakers — would remove politics from the process.

Supporters of Ohio’s fall ballot measure disagreed, pointing out that Iowa state lawmakers have the final say on political district maps in that state — the exact scenario the Ohio plan is designed to avoid. That’s after Ohio’s existing system, involving the state Legislature and a state redistricting commission populated with elected officials, including DeWine, produced seven rounds of legislative and congressional maps rejected by courts as unconstitutional.

Retired Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor accused DeWine of spreading disinformation about the ballot measure, which she's championing, and backing a plan that will allow politicians “to keep rigging the game.” She said she has offered to meet with the governor to explain the proposal.

“Gov. DeWine voted with his fellow politicians seven times for unconstitutional maps, and now says what Ohio really needs is what he calls ‘The Iowa Plan,’ a system where the Governor and other politicians get the final say on maps,” she said in a statement. “For nearly a year, we have been publicly collecting signatures in all 88 counties and now – 97 days before the election – he tells Ohioans that he and his friends in the legislature are already scheming to overturn what voters will pass in November.”

The fall ballot proposal calls for replacing the Ohio Redistricting Commission, made up of the governor, auditor, secretary of state and the four legislative leaders, with an independent body selected directly by citizens. The new panel’s members would be diversified by party affiliation and geography.

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.

DeWine argued that it's less important who draws the maps than what criteria the state constitution forces them to abide by. He said he will work with the Legislature come January to put the Iowa plan before voters and, if lawmakers fail, he would even consider working to get it on the statewide ballot by initiative.

Asked why he opted against calling an immediate special session to address the issue, as he recently did to fix a ballot deadline issue affecting the presidential race, DeWine said that strategy lacked support in the politically fractured Ohio House.

A new session begins in January. It's possible that, by then, Republican Senate President Matt Huffman — who has spoken out against the fall redistricting measure — will have succeeded in his effort to return to the House and to win the speaker's chair away from fellow Republican Jason Stephens. Stephens, whose tenure has relied heavily on Democrats, has failed to deliver on several of DeWine's legislative priorities this session.

DeWine's move to use his bully pulpit to oppose the redistricting issue came the same day that Citizens Not Politicians reported that its bipartisan ballot effort has raised nearly $25 million.

O'Connor said the success of the group's fundraising effort — including donations from Republicans, Democrats and independents — shows people across the political spectrum hate gerrymandering “because it is fundamentally unfair and it only helps elite political insiders maintain power at the expense of the interests of everyday citizens.”

DeWine said voters should consider how much of the group’s support is coming from national groups when deciding how they’ll vote.