Ohio Issue 1, which would have made it more difficult to place citizen-initiated amendments on the ballot and set a 60% threshold for passage, failed this week. Ohioans are wasting no time in using this power to attack gerrymandering. Signatures were gathered this weekend as the first step in placing a redistricting issue on the 2024 ballot.
Ohio voters passed redistricting reform amendments in 2015 [state legislature] and 2018 [US House], but the Republican-dominated redistricting commission ignored these amendments and a series of rulings by the state Supreme Court in drawing the current set of maps. Those maps will have to be revisited by 2026 because they did not have support from the minority party, but all this will do is give Republicans an opportunity for a more precise gerrymander. The proposed process will institute an independent redistricting commission similar to those used in other states [most recently Michigan] and will cut politicians out of the process completely.
Other measures, including background checks for gun purchases, higher minimum wage, and qualified immunity reform, are likely to follow.
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