An under-the-radar ballot measure in Ohio could be an ominous sign for the future of democratic rule throughout the United States.
On November 5, along with crucial contests for the White House and Senate, Buckeye State voters will also decide the fate of Issue 1, a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would change how political district lines are drawn in the state.
As Ohio businessman and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently warned, Issue 1 is “an out-of-state (and even international) attempt by left-wing politicians to trick voters into rewriting our state constitution.”
Issue 1’s liberal backers claim the measure has “organic grassroots support.” But the effort was really seeded by tens of millions of dollars from ultra-rich Democrat donors like George Soros and Hansjörg Wyss, funneling that money through shadowy political groups run by seasoned Democrat operatives, including former Barack Obama Attorney General Eric Holder and notorious Democrat lawfare purveyor Marc Elias.
Under the current system, the governor, secretary of state, and state auditor work with two Republicans and two Democrats, who are appointed by the legislature, to draw district boundaries for Ohio’s 15 congressional districts, 33 state Senate districts and 99 state House districts.
The new system proposed by Issue 1 is far more confusing and obscure – and therefore ripe for corruption and abuse.
Essentially, redistricting maps would instead be drawn by a 15-member “Citizens Redistricting Commission.” Not only would the commission not be directly accountable to voters, but even contacting a commissioner outside of the approved comment process would be a crime – Free Speech be damned.
And just who would select the members of the commission? The Toledo Blade lays out the entire painstaking 11-step process, but essentially the answer is a panel of four judges – who also aren’t accountable to voters – and a “professional search firm.” Six of the 15 commission members would be randomly selected, and those six would then pick the remaining nine members.
In short, instead of Ohioans voting on the people who control the redistricting process, it would be left up to random chance at best and blatant political cronyism at worst. The only way to remove an unelected commissioner would be through a vote of the other unelected commissioners.
The redistricting commission has been billed as a way to end “gerrymandering,” or the drawing of district lines to intentionally favor one political party. But the fact that this effort in an increasingly Republican state is overwhelmingly backed by Democrat partisans should make Ohioans and all Americans skeptical of the actual intent of this scheme.
Ohio was once a swing state. But voters overwhelmingly backed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and sent a Republican governor and supermajorities to Columbus in 2022, along with electing Republican JD Vance to the Senate. Now that Democrats have lost the battle of public opinion at the ballot box in Ohio, they’re looking to claw back power through undemocratic “commissions” that aren’t accountable to voters.
The U.S. Constitution allocates the power to draw district lines to state legislatures for a reason – because handing unelected bureaucrats this responsibility gives a few political actors unwarranted control over the democratic process.
There are undoubtedly issues with some congressional and state legislature maps, and Americans are right to be concerned about too much political influence in drawing district lines. But robbing voters of their ability to have a say in the redistricting process makes the problem worse. It is the responsibility of the courts, not government bureaucrats, to adjudicate whether state legislatures have run afoul of the law in drawing new maps.
For the left-wing activists behind this effort, Ohio is a test run for the rest of the country. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is chaired by Holder and has orchestrated the pro-Issue 1 operation in Ohio, has openly flaunted its plans to back similar ballot initiatives in other red and purple states.
Democrats are clearly playing the long game here. Under the guise of “stopping gerrymandering,” liberal groups are hoping to hand liberal “commissions” control over redistricting in red and purple states while allowing Democrat legislatures to continue drawing maps favorable to Democrats in blue states. The result would be a potentially insurmountable built-in advantage for Democrats in U.S. House and state legislature races nationwide.
Republican leaders from JD Vance and Donald Trump to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson have all warned about the glaring threat Issue 1 poses to democratic accountability. But in a poll conducted in early October, 60 percent of Ohioans said they planned to vote “yes” on the measure, while 20 percent said they plan to vote “no” and another 20 percent were unsure.
The most alarming finding in this poll was the number of Republican voters – 41 percent – who said they planned to back Issue 1. Democrat operatives have clearly succeeded in misleading conservatives about this naked attempt to deprive them of their political power.
If Democrats can succeed in passing Issue 1 in Ohio, it opens the door for similar efforts in red states across the country. Ohio voters should reject it accordingly.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
