The Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)

Elected officials will continue to draw Ohio Statehouse and U.S. Congressional district maps now that voters have rejected Issue 1, which proposed to replace politicians with a citizens redistricting commission, according to projections by the Associated Press based on unofficial results. Results remain unofficial until they are certified by local county boards of elections and the Ohio Secretary of State.

“Voters recognized that establishing an unelected, unaccountably 4th branch of government under Issue 1 was a very bad idea,” said Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman in a statement Tuesday night.

The Issue 1 constitutional amendment proposed to create a 15-member citizens redistricting commission made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents, to replace the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission including the Ohio governor, secretary of state, auditor, and four legislative leaders including two representing each party from each chamber. 

The Ohio Redistricting Commission of elected officials will now continue to be in control of the map-making process, with another round of redistricting not expected until after the 2030 U.S. Census.

Issue 1 was hotly debated throughout the election cycle, as campaigns on both sides of the measure sought to gain voters.

Opponents of the proposed amendment claimed a focus on proportionality would create problems drawing districts as federal law requires. Proportionality is the idea that the total representation of the districts should closely reflect the statewide voting preferences of voters. Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, and Ohio Auditor Keith Faber — all of whom are on the Ohio Redistricting Commission — stood in opposition to Issue 1.

The amendment was proposed by a group called Citizens Not Politicians, with its supporters pointing to five Ohio Statehouse maps and two U.S. Congressional district maps created by the current Ohio Redistricting Commission being declared unconstitutionally gerrymandered by a bipartisan majority on the Ohio Supreme Court in 2021 and 2022.

In 2023, the elected officials on the Ohio Redistricting Commission unanimously passed Statehouse maps that were ruled constitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court, though Democrats on the commission said they only agreed to them because Republican commissioners had threatened more partisan maps if they did not. The Democratic members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission supported the Issue 1 reform.

Citizens Not Politicians was led by former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican who acted as the key swing vote that led to the rejection of the maps in 2021 and 2022.

The current Statehouse map used for the 2024 election was approved by the court after O’Connor was forced to retire due to age limits, and now-Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy took the helm.

After O’Connor left the bench, she almost immediately began working on what would become Issue 1, leading the charge in public forums, debates, info sessions and finally starring in campaign ads for the ballot initiative.

Tuesday night, she said the results showed that Ohioans support an end to gerrymandering, whether they voted for or against the measure.

“In analyzing the vote tonight, it is clear that millions of Ohioans who voted ‘yes’ want to end gerrymandering, and those who voted ‘no’ thought they were voting against gerrymandering,” O’Connor told supporters and the media at a watch party in downtown Columbus.

The fight over Issue 1 involved a court battle over the summary language seen by voters at the polls, which was written by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who opposed the amendment, and approved by the Ohio Ballot Board of which he is the chair. The language was harshly criticized as misleading and an attempt to persuade voters, as it included language that said the amendment would require the commission to gerrymander, even though the actual amendment banned gerrymandering.

The Ohio Supreme Court largely upheld the language, only requiring the board to make two minor tweaks. They let the “gerrymander” wording stand.

Last week, Ohio voters said they were confused by the ballot summary language.

Standing against the Issue 1 amendment alongside DeWine, Huffman, and Faber were former President Donald Trump, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, Attorney General Dave Yost, Secretary of State LaRose, and state Treasurer Robert Sprague.