If voters approve the ballot initiative this November, Ohio could become a nationwide leader on how to draw lines for state lawmakers’ districts, said Michael Li, an elections expert at New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. The much-maligned process of allowing lawmakers draw Rorschach test-like districts to ensure a win for their party could end — or at least become less egregious — with this first-of-its-kind proposal, he said.
“People are really watching Ohio very closely,” Li said.
Most of the time, when states change who draws legislative districts, the idea comes from a group of fed-up voters not lawmakers with a vested interest in maintaining their control over the pen, Li said. But a bipartisan effort from Ohio legislators, two of whom were leaving because of term limits, passed last December and is headed to voters this fall. Only nine of 130 sitting lawmakers voted “no” on the proposal, which passed at 4 a.m. the day after legislators planned to break for the holidays.