Will Ohio get fair election maps?

The war against gerrymandering and unfair state elections in Ohio continues this year, as the Ohio Redistricting Commission returns with mostly the same membership. There's been no announcement from the governor's office or from statehouse leaders about when or where the commission will begin meeting to decide about redrawing federal U.S. Congressional districts. But the state constitution requires redistricting this year. Unlike in the past, when maps were redrawn every 10 years based on population shifts and the U.S. Census, the state's constitution now requires new maps for federal districts in time for the 2026 elections because the commission failed to get bipartisan or unanimous support for the redrawn maps after the 2020 census. A state amendments require the commission to come back again in an effort to get it right. During the prior redistricting cycle, Republican politicians continuously gerrymandered the voting districts. They did the same for state House and state Senate districts, but in the end the two Democrats voted for the final maps the commission approved. All the maps were approved in time for the 2022 election despite attempts by the Ohio Supreme Court to help implement fair maps, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization that represented Ohio-based organizations and voters challenging the commission's new district maps in 2021. The past redistricting process in Ohio allowed politicians to gerrymander voting districts behind closed doors and deny voters fair representation, according to the Center. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled five times during the constitutionally required redistricting process that the state legislative maps Republicans voted to approve were unconstitutional. And, in a separate case, it also struck down the state's congressional maps twice. DeWine had plenty of help derailing the process in 2021 from other Republicans on the commission — and, together, they dominated the commission because they held all the elected statewide offices: the governor, the state auditor, Keith Faber, and the secretary of state, Frank LaRose were all mandated to serve on the commission. The other four members are appointed by party leaders in the statehouse, two each, meaning the commission is dominated 5-2 by Republicans. "The current redistricting system is broken beyond repair," according to the Brennan Center and others. But here we go again In 2020, the commission failed to eliminate gerrymandering from Ohio's districts. There's no indication Republicans aren't satisfied with how things turned out in 2021, or if they will go down a more bipartisan path. Last year, voters rejected a "Citizens not Politicians" amendment that would have removed elected officeholders from the redistricting commission altogether. The measure was defeated, however, and some critics blamed confusion created by the ballot wording LaRose required for it. There was bipartisan support in 2015 and 2018, when the state constitutional amendments attempting to prohibit gerrymandering were approved, for fair elections. DeWine has proposed a different strategy this year. He wants the commission to consider following the state of Iowa's hybrid system. The governor told Cincinnati Public Radio station WXUC in November he intended to ask both the House and Senate to take up a joint resolution that would put the Iowa plan on the ballot for voters to decide. Iowa uses data unrelated to political party affiliation to draw up district maps. What is gerrymandering? It refers to the practice of drawing electoral district lines to favor one political party, individual or constituency over another. When used in a rhetorical manner by opponents of a particular district map, the term has a negative connotation but does not necessarily address the legality of a challenged map. The term can also be used in legal documents; in this context, the term describes redistricting practices that violate federal or state laws. Note: This story has been updated to clarify which districts are required to be updated.