COLUMBUS — Voters will not find the Ohio Redistricting Commission on the ballot.
But they will decide on Nov. 6 who will hold the pen three years from now when Ohio draws new maps for state legislative districts — and potentially congressional districts — that could steer Ohio elections for the next decade.
Three of the seven members on that panel — governor, secretary of state, and auditor — are up for grabs this year. Given that the four other seats will be evenly divided between Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the party that holds two of those three statewide executive offices will control the process.
That’s one reason those three races are getting a lot of national attention and attracting out-of-state money — not so much because of what they may do next year, but what they may do in 2021.
Catherine Turcer, of Common Cause of Ohio, was one of the players who pushed to get redistricting reform measures before voters in recent years.
“Traditionally, whoever held those seats were the ones who ruled the day whenever maps were drawn that slanted to the left or to the right, or to the Dems or to the R’s,” she said. “Although there are now rules in place for better legislative district lines, it can still make a difference who is sitting on that commission.”
Once a decade after each U.S. Census, the state adjusts legislative and congressional district lines to compensate for population shifts over the prior decade. Not surprisingly, the party in control at the time would take advantage of the process to draw districts to strengthen their hands and pack the minority into as few districts as possible.
In the past few cycles, Republicans have largely controlled the process. Today, the GOP holds 12 of 16 congressional seats, 24 of 33 state Senate seats, and 66 of 99 state House seats, belying the fact that overall party registration in Ohio is more closely divided.
In 2021, Ohio will put to the test two new processes that voters approved in 2015 for legislative districts and earlier this year for congressional.
The redistricting commission will be solely responsible for redrawing the legislative districts. It could also play a role in new congressional maps if the General Assembly can’t get its act together in adopting maps with sufficient minority party support.
And that’s why a process still three years away has become an issue in races like that for secretary of state. State Sen. Frank LaRose (R., Hudson), state Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D., Kent), and Libertarian Dustin Nanna are vying for the position that serves as Ohio’s top elections official.
“[Mr. LaRose] talks about trying to be part of the solution to redistricting, but when it came down to making that decision whether to rubber-stamp that map [in 2011] and rubber-stamp that process of having a bunker in a downtown hotel, avoiding public meeting laws, no transparency ... he should have stood up against that as I did. And he didn’t,” Ms. Clyde said.
She and Mr. LaRose supported the two reform packages approved by voters. Mr. LaRose’s resolution put the 2015 question on legislative districts on the ballot.
“The next redistricting commission, the members of which will be elected this year, will set the precedent for how this process will play out,” Mr. LaRose said. “I think we can set a real example. ... Ultimately, those seven individuals who sit in that room will be the ones held responsible to be statesmen and women about this process.”
Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine, Democrat and former federal consumer watchdog Richard Cordray, Libertarian Travis Irvine, and the Green Party’s Constance Gadell-Newton are vying to replace Republican Gov. John Kasich.
State Rep. Keith Faber (R., Celina) and former Democrat congressman Zack Space are running for auditor.
First Published October 30, 2018, 10:30 a.m.
