Video: Ohio’s Issue 1 aims to end gerrymandering

By Sydney Brown/Kent State NewsLab

A recent poll released by Baldwin Wallace University found that 69% of Ohio voters oppose gerrymandering—the process of creating electoral boundaries that give one party an advantage.

 Issue 1, on Ohio ballots this fall, would change the way maps are drawn by creating an independent citizen body with an equal number of Democrats, Republicans, and independents to draw Ohio’s legislative districts.

The initiative is on the ballot after many language revisions leading up to the general election to modify how Ohio draws its district lines. 

“Clearly, the public’s still not happy,” said J. Cherie Strachan, Director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. “Clearly, the public still wants something different, or they wouldn’t still be responding.” 

Advocacy groups such as Citizens Not Politicians and non-partisan groups such as the League of Women Voters are running “yes” campaigns, encouraging voters to support the measure. 

Opposition to Issue 1 stems from the uncertainty of what a 15-person citizen commission would bring — and the potential for some, likely Republicans, to lose representation under a new system. 

“It’s untested,” said David Arredondo, the former executive chairman of the Lorain County Republican Party.  

Strachan said gerrymandering contributes to feelings that the government is unfair. 

“This is a part of the reason, maybe not exclusively, but really successfully gerrymandered districts are one of the reasons why” people feel underrepresented, Strachan said. “So yeah, if you want people to be disillusioned, if you want people to lose faith in democracy, if you want people to be frustrated with the quality of their representation… keep it up.” 

This story was originally published by the Kent State NewsLab, a collaborative news outlet publishing journalism by Kent State students.