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COLUMBUS — Voters will probably get a second chance in November to consider changing how lawmakers redraw congressional and legislative districts every 10 years, Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted said yesterday.

The Kettering Republican also said he hopes Ohio will lead the way in changing the U.S. Constitution to require that only citizens are counted when it comes to redistributing the nation’s 435 congressional seats, a move that could prevent Ohio from potentially losing two representatives in 2011.

“We’re talking about, for the purpose of establishing congressional districts, using people who can’t even vote here to determine the number of people that we vote for,” Mr. Husted said.

U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a suburban Detroit Republican, has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to require that congressional districts be apportioned according to “citizen” population instead of “person” population as is now required under the 14th Amendment.

The current process not only counts citizens but also legal residents with green cards and visas as well as illegal aliens.

A change in the count could cost California six congressional seats. New York, Texas, and Florida could lose one each.

While the shift might allow Ohio to maintain its 18 seats, instead of potentially losing two, Michigan could gain a seat.

“There are consequences for losing two congressional districts for your state,” Mr. Husted said. “We’ve got a situation where Ohio is put at a financial detriment as a result of this.”

The most likely route for a U.S. constitutional amendment would be for the U.S. House and Senate to pass the bill with two-thirds majority votes, followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states.

“This is the first I had heard of this concept,” said Ed Jerse, a former Democratic state representative from suburban Cleveland who has been working with Republican leaders on a new redistricting ballot question.

“My initial instinct is that we could run into problems in terms of thinking there are two classes of Americans,” he said. “I’m not sure that would fly.”

In November, voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would have taken the inherently political process of redrawing congressional and legislative districts out of the hands of elected officials and given it to an appointed panel.

The proposal was pushed by Reform Ohio Now, a coalition of unions, government watchdog, and other largely Democratic constituencies. It was opposed by Republicans.

Mr. Husted offered no specifics on a compromise for November, other than to say the discussion is on balancing competitiveness and geographic compactness.

The Ohio House and Senate would have to pass identical resolutions by super-majority votes by August in order to put the question to voters.

“We have to do it this year. Otherwise, it’s lost for another decade,” Mr. Husted said.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

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