Independent Redistricting Commission for Ohio: A policy deep-dive with retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, Sept 28, noon
Justice O’Connell will explain the proposal to create a transparent and non-partisan process for drawing Ohio’s legislative districts. Sign up here for this Citizens not Politicians webinar. The proposed constitutional amendment has qualified for the ballot, but the Attorney General has not yet approved ballot language.
A statewide coalition of more than 30 organizations including the Ohio Council of Churches, Faith in Public Life, the League of Women Voters Ohio, Common Cause Ohio, NAACP Ohio Chapter, and the Ohio Environmental Council have organized “Citizens Not Politicians” to support the passage in 2024 of the constitutional amendment in question. Slides 11-17 from the coalition’s September Fair Districts All Volunteer Huddle describe the proposed redistricting process, including how members of the Redistricting Commission would be selected, map drawing criteria, public hearings and transparency, and how to request judicial review of the maps.
There is an inherent conflict of interest if politicians serving in elected offices are part of the process of redistricting. Parties who hold majorities consistently try to draw the lines to keep their power. This happened in multiple states after the 2020 Census, including a Democratic gerrymander in New York (thrown out through the state’s fair district process) and Republican gerrymanders in Ohio and Alabama. Litigation continues over racial gerrymandering of Alabama’s Congressional district map, which the US Supreme Court found in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Temporary restraining order halts transfer of powers away from State School Board
Seven of the eleven elected members of Ohio’s School Board sued to prevent the state from transferring power over curriculum and most other policy to a renamed state education department under the control of the Governor. On Sept. 21, Franklin County Judge Karen Held Phipps issued a temporary restraining order stopping this transfer. She ordered the parties to appear at a preliminary injunction hearing Oct. 2. Read Ohio Capitol Journal’s Sept. 22 article for the basis of the suit and the injunction.
In 1953, Ohio voters passed a constitutional amendment creating a State Board of Education which is authorized to appoint a Superintendent of Public Instruction. “If unchecked by this Court, the system Ohio’s citizens mandated for governing education in Ohio will be rendered virtually powerless,” the lawsuit reads. “The bill strips the Board’s democratically elected members of their core and constitutionally intended duties and responsibilities for the oversight and governance of Ohio’s public education system.” The transfer of power would also deprive citizens of the opportunity to testify at public hearings on proposed curriculum.
For Episcopalians striving for Beloved Community, the context for this news is the ongoing debate over how K-12 public schools teach about the history and current reality of racial equity in the United States.
The controversy ignited in Ohio from backlash against a 2020 resolution adopted by the state Board of Election following the murder of George Floyd. The Board President, Republican Laura Kohler, resigned in October, 2021 when it was clear the Ohio Senate would not reappoint her because she would not vote to rescind the resolution condemning racism and calling for “excellence in education for all.” The Ohio Senate did not confirm the reappointment of three other board members who voted for the resolution.
The state Board of Election currently has 19 members, 8 appointed by the Governor. Voters elected enough new members last November to block curriculum banning an honest discussion of race relations. The state legislature tried to pass a bill, SB 1, stripping the state school board of most of its powers. When this bill failed to make it out of committee in the Ohio House, the Legislature folded it into the state budget passed at the end of June. The seven board members had written to the Governor the day he received the budget bill, asking him to veto that provision. The plaintiffs are challenging the policy change on the grounds of the Ohio Constitution, which prohibits “logrolling,” or including more than a single subject in a bill.
Ohio Redistricting Commission approves new draft maps, completes three hearings within a week
On Sept. 20 Republican majority introduced draft maps for Ohio’s state house and senate districts that are likely to increase their supermajority and reduce the number of competitive districts, according to an analysis by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This would exacerbate the imbalance that led the Ohio Supreme Court to rule all the previous maps drafted in 2021-22 unconstitutional for giving excessive partisan advantage. The new maps would be used in the 2024 state House and Senate elections. The current Commission has five Republican and two Democratic members, and has passed all the previous maps on party-line votes.
Creating safe districts for either party means that the choice of representative is largely determined by the primary, which typically has a small turnout. This contributes to public policy driven by the base of the majority party. An October 2022 issues poll by the Baldwin Wallace University Community Research Institute shows that policy adopted by our gerrymandered legislature frequently goes against the majority views of Ohio voters on many key issues including gun safety, reproductive rights, curriculum about racism and climate change, and policy to slow climate change.
Long stalled, map-making is now moving at lightning speed. By the time you read this, all three public hearings on the new draft maps will already be over.
Ohio Supreme Court rules on reproductive rights ballot language
The Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling on the ballot language summarizing Ohio’s proposed reproductive rights amendment just days before military and absentee voting began. The Court allowed wording which amendment proponents found significantly misleading, including the omission that the amendment would protect other reproductive rights such as contraception.
The majority of the justices agreed with plaintiffs that the ballot summary should say that the amendment would prohibit “the State” rather than “people of the State” from passing laws to restrict abortion access before fetal viability outside the womb. “Instead of describing a proposed amendment that would establish a right to carry out reproductive decisions free from government intrusion,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Pat Fischer, “the ballot language’s use of the term ‘citizens of the State’ would mislead voters by suggesting that the amendment would limit the rights of individual citizens to oppose abortion.” The ballot language was written by the Ohio Ballot Board, which is led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is an outspoken opponent of abortion. The amendment would restore to Ohioans the reproductive rights rescinded by the 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs decision overruling Roe v Wade. Abortions after viability – usually 24 weeks – would only be permitted if necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient. “LaRose, who aims to challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown for his seat next year, called the measure a “really radical abortion amendment” in an interview last month with “Meet the Press NOW,’ reports NBC News
Inform your community on Oct. 10 voter registration deadline and how-tos
Ohio voters must register or update their registration by Oct. 10 in order to be able to vote Nov. 7. You can hand out this information at your community ministry site. Online registration or updates can be filed at this link. The voter must provide an Ohio driver’s license or Ohio ID number, name, date of birth, address, and last four digits of the social security number. Voters who lack any of that information must submit a paper form, which must be signed and mailed to the voter’s county Board of Elections, with a postmark no later than Oct. 10. Links to the form and the Boards of Election are on this same page. Absentee ballot applications must be received by Oct. 31 at the voter’s county Board of Elections. Voters can mail the application or call their county Board of Elections to request one.
Advocacy briefings are compiled by Ariel Miller, a longtime community advocate and member of Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming. Connect with her at arielmillerwriter@gmail.com
