ohio redistricting

A bus tour by Republicans is part of the plan to convince early voters in Ohio to vote against Issue 1.

The ad began airing Tuesday, just one day before the Ohio Ballot Board was set to meet to formalize controversial ballot summary language.

Ohio voters will decide whether to change the map-drawing process this November - six years after the last time a redistricting amendment was on the ballot.

It appears likely an amendment to change how lawmakers' district lines are drawn in Ohio will make it on the November ballot.

The campaign committee now has until July 3 of next year to collect the 413,487 valid signatures required to make the November 2024 ballot.

The two Democrats on the seven member Ohio Redistricting Commission voted for maps they said were unfair because they were a little better than previous proposals. But the Democrats say the only way to get truly fair maps is to make a change in the redistricting process.

Gov. Mike DeWine grudgingly gaveled the reconstituted Ohio Redistricting Commission to order. That was despite fellow Republicans Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Jason Stephens — presumably from separate locations somewhere off-site — failing to come to any agreement on who the GOP's co-chair should be.

The proposal, championed by two former Ohio Supreme Court justices, would create a 15-member commission that could not include politicians, lobbyists or other partisans to draw district maps for Ohio's Congressional districts and the state's House and Senate.

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled the second congressional map adopted by Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission and currently in use for the 2022 election violates partisan gerrymandering prohibitions and is therefore unconstitutional.

Democratic lawmakers, voting rights groups and community organizations are looking at what options are available as the redistricting process enters a new phase.