Redistricting reform faces tight deadline to get on May ballot

The calls throughout Ohio for legislative redistricting reform have been heard for a long time, with some of the most vocal advocates hailing from Athens County.

But the politics of an election year are hampering efforts, and the next shot at reform may not come for another decade or more. Though Ohio looks likely to lose two Congressional districts following the upcoming census, making the time ripe for reform, two proposals to change the way Ohio draws its districts every decade have sputtered in the Ohio House.

Any proposal would need a three-fifths vote in the House and Senate by Feb. 3 to bring it to voters on the May 4 ballot.

Currently, the four-decade-old system consists of the Ohio Apportionment Board's drawing the single-member legislative districts for the Ohio General Assembly (the state House and Senate) every 10 years following the Census.

The five-member board is composed of the Ohio governor, secretary of state, state auditor, a member selected by the speaker of the House and Senate leader of the same party, and a member selected by the House and Senate leaders of the other party. Under this system, whichever political party holds three seats on the board control the legislative mapping process. With all three of the statewide executive posts up for election this year, whichever party wins at least two will control the board. Historically, the party in charge of the board has gerrymandered a majority of House and Senate districts to favor party candidates.

Reformers charge that this creates "safe" districts in which party primaries often decide the ultimate winners rather than the general election. Primaries in Ohio typically favor partisan left and right candidates rather than moderates, a state of affairs, according to the redistricting reform supporters, that has eroded bipartisanship and increased polarization in Ohio government.

Currently, Democrats hold the governorship and the secretary of state's office, while Republicans have the state auditor.

Advocates for redistricting reform are hoping that the two political parties won't be so confident that they will win two of the three statewide seats, and therefore will be more open to reforms that would make redistricting more of a bipartisan endeavor.

Joan Lawrence, a 16-year GOP member of the Ohio House and longtime advocate for redistricting reform, said that this year represents an opportunity for that being the case.

"The most critical thing is that this is the first time in years that neither party is assured, looking at what's going to happen in November 2010, that they will control the Apportionment Board," she said. "So for the first time they really don't know whether the R's or the D's are going to control it. We're hoping that that's enough of an incentive for them, not wanting to take a chance, that they will change the system."

Lawrence said that House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, is rallying for reform, but would need to get 60 votes in a chamber with only 53 Democrats. The chamber is currently sitting on a Senate-passed bill sponsored by state Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, who is also running for secretary of state.

The Husted legislation would assign the drawing of Statehouse and congressional boundaries to a bipartisan seven-member panel. Under the Husted bill, a successful redistricting plan would need the consent of at least two members of the minority party in order to ensure bipartisan support.

Lawrence said that state Rep. Tom Letson, D-Warren, has agreed to sponsor amended redistricting reform legislation in the House. She said this legislation would change the Apportionment Board to a redistricting commission also made up of seven members and requiring a five-member supermajority for passage of a redistricting plan.

The procedural change in the House version of the bill, which Lawrence said would really revolutionize the system, would call for a competition to come up with redistricting plans that would be voted upon by the commission.

Everybody submitting a plan would have access to the same data and software, and the plan would have to meet four criteria, Lawrence said. Those criteria include reducing the number of fragments of counties and municipalities that are created by any particular plan, keeping each district compact, maximizing the competitiveness of each district, and ensuring representational fairness, she said. The top five plans would be presented to the commission, which must pass one of the plans as a whole, according to Lawrence. She said she would testify that congressional district drawing should undergo this same process.

David Horn of New Marshfield, who has been longtime advocate of redistricting reform in Ohio, said he has been involved in the issue since 1974.

"It's a very tough issue," he said. "We're interested in making a fundamental change in the process, not just a cosmetic reform."

Whenever an attempt is made to redistribute power, it meets a lot of resistance, he said, noting that this is human nature.

"A lot of people say these district boundaries are irrational, and they are," he said. "We realized that we need a very straight set of rules for doing it, so that whoever does it, you tie their hands."

State Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Albany, said that he thinks the Husted plan that was passed in the Senate is a fair improvement to the system.

"I really don't know what its chances are in the House," he said. "But if it doesn't happen this time then it's not going to happen for at least another 10 years."

Sen. Stewart acknowledged that under the current system, government is divided at the state level between Democrats controlling the House and governor's office, and Republicans controlling the Senate. This means that neither side has a clear lock on the statewide Apportionment Board seats in the upcoming election. It raises the question, he added, of whether both sides will pursue redistricting reform or "swing for the fences" and hope for a win under the current rules, guaranteeing their majority for years to come.

"Whether or not this will go, I don't know, but it seems to be an improvement over the current system," he said.

State Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens, said that it's important to make sure the redistricting process is fair, transparent and something voters can rely on as a reasonable way to determine the composition of districts.

She agreed with the four criteria outlined by Lawrence and promoted by the League of Women Voters.

"That process of having elections in competitive districts is one that really gives voters the opportunity to hear the positions of candidates and to hold people in public office accountable," Phillips said. "There currently are some districts in the state of Ohio that are so extreme one way or the other that the election is pretty much over after the primary has occurred. I think that is a disservice to the public."

Phillips agreed that while both sides of the aisle may be confident of their candidates this year, there is still uncertainty as to who will end up controlling the Apportionment Board after the election.

"This is a time where there is an opportunity for reform because of the uncertainty," she said.