A local Republican is pitching a plan to limit partisan politics in how congressional districts are drawn.
State Sen. Frank LaRose of Hudson introduced Senate Joint Resolution 3 this week. The measure would push state lawmakers to deal with partisan map-drawing, also known as gerrymandering, by the summer of 2021. If not, a special commission that currently draws state legislative boundaries would do it for them.
In the meantime, a group of nonpartisan experts is proposing a constitutional ballot issue to supersede the legislator’s plan.
LaRose’s resolution stipulates that any plan the General Assembly comes up with would require either a two-thirds supermajority or the approval of more than half of both Democrats and Republicans, thus ensuring bipartisanship.
“My goal is to establish a redistricting process that does not favor the interests of one political party or another but that works for all Ohioans,” said LaRose, who is “seriously” considering a run for secretary of state in 2018. “While I believe that the plan I have put forward accomplishes this, I recognize that it could always be improved. I welcome the input of my colleagues and I look forward to hearing their ideas on how we can improve and build on this proposal.”
Republicans currently control two-thirds of the Ohio House, largely because of gerrymandering. Essentially, they already have a supermajority, and therefore could rubber-stamp their own proposal under LaRose’s plan.
If the General Assembly fails to act, only “a simple majority vote of the commission” is needed, instead of a vote from the minority party, which the commission currently needs to approve statehouse maps.
“I think Frank LaRose is very sincere in his effort to bring about redistricting reform,” said Richard Gunther, a professor emeritus in Ohio State University’s Political Science Department. “But this is fatally flawed. And could be corrected with a few minor changes.”
Passage by majorities in both parties instead of a “supermajority” would be a good start, he said.
Redistricting 101
Under current law, the party in power at the end of each decade draws new congressional districts based on updated population counts. The next redistricting will take place after the 2020 census.
Democrats and Republicans alike have remapped Ohio’s districts to maximize success at the polls.
Fed up with the politics, 71 percent of Ohio voters approved Issue 1 in 2015. The ballot issue formed a Bipartisan Redistricting Commission, which now requires buy-in from the minority party to adopt new state maps.
LaRose’s plan would use this commission to redraw congressional lines if his colleagues again fail to act.
Gunther, one of the five experts who crafted Issue 1, appreciates LaRose’s intention, with the exception of a few details.
The 21-page resolution borrows language from Issue 1 but omits what Gunther considers a key clause: “Where feasible, no county should be split more than once.”
Drawing 99 Ohio House districts isn’t the same as mapping out 15 U.S. congressional seats, assuming Ohio’s population doesn’t shrink again and the state loses another seat in Congress after the 2020 census.
Counties, not municipalities, should receive the utmost protection from being split in half or thirds or quarters, Gunther said. “I think for Summit County this will especially ring true because it is split into four separate congressional districts.”
Akronites share the 11th U.S. House district with Clevelanders and the 13th with Youngstown residents. Reinserting the Issue 1 language would alleviate much of the cross-county connecting of urban centers, Gunther said.
Issue 1 reloaded
Gunther’s input matters because he again is leading an Issue 1 initiative, of sorts.
This time, he and a group of nonpartisan redistricting advocates seek to change the Ohio Constitution.
“We are going forward with the citizens initiative and we are doing this even though Frank LaRose’s resolution might serve as an adequate vehicle,” Gunther said.
If citizens behind the amendment change wait to see if lawmakers approve — and alter to their liking — LaRose’s plan, they would miss their deadline to collect and file more than 300,000 signatures to put their constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall.
Rep. Kathleen Clyde, another likely candidate for secretary of state, noted that LaRose’s resolution “likely arrives too late to get the legislature to approve anything to go before voters.”
“The GOP has dragged its feet on this for three years,” the Kent Democrat said. “This plan is very similar to one that Democrats didn’t like in recent negotiations because it does not sufficiently limit the ability to carve up the state any way the map drawers want to. We could end up with another gerrymandered map where half the vote wins three quarters of the districts.”
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .