AOTL: Iowa’s Redistricting Model Won’t Work in Ohio

Gov. DeWine’s “Proposal” Allows Gerrymandering Politicians to Keep the Pen

Washington, D.C. – Today, John Bisognano, President of All On The Line, issued the following statement in response to Gov. Mike DeWine’s redistricting proposal:

“This is the same tired playbook in Ohio. Given Ohio politicians repeatedly ignored well-intended reforms in order to gerrymander themselves into power, the Iowa model simply will not work in the Buckeye State. Any proposal that could allow gerrymandering politicians to keep the pen to draw the maps or change the rules is unacceptable for Ohioans.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: 

Iowa’s redistricting process, including the redistricting criteria the map drawers are required to adhere to, is statutory and subject to repeal or revision by the legislature at any point in time. The process begins with maps drawn by a nonpartisan state agency, allowing the legislature to approve or reject the maps without amendments. At first, the nonpartisan state agency redraws the maps if the legislature rejects them. However, if the legislature rejects the nonpartisan maps three times, the map drawing process returns to the legislature, giving politicians free rein to gerrymander. 

During the 2021 redistricting cycle, Ohio Republicans co-opted the state’s congressional and state legislative redistricting reforms to ensure politicians kept the pen and did not allow the reforms to function as they should have. Throughout the redistricting process, they forced a bipartisan commission to fail multiple times in order to gerrymander. A bipartisan majority on the Ohio Supreme Court struck down a total of seven sets of Republican-drawn congressional and state legislative maps as partisan gerrymanders and ordered Ohio’s bipartisan commission to draw fair, compliant maps. Ohio Republicans ignored each of these orders. As a result, Ohioans have been forced to vote on unconstitutional congressional and state legislative maps.

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