Credit: Frank W. Lewis / Signal Cleveland

Issue 1 is a proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution intended to prevent partisan gerrymandering by barring elected officials from participating in the redistricting process.

What happens if Issue 1 fails?

If voters don’t pass Issue 1, nothing changes. The Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC), a panel of elected officials that’s currently controlled by Republicans, will continue to determine the boundaries for the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate, as well as the state’s 15 U.S. Congressional districts.

Redistricting typically takes place every 10 years, after results from the U.S. Census are available. So presumably Ohioans will continue to vote in the districts that the Ohio Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in a series of rulings in the early 2020s.

What happens if Issue 1 passes?

Issue 1 replaces the ORC with a citizen’s commission that cannot include elected officials, their immediate family members or people who work for or with a party. The commission will be made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and five people not affiliated with either party. (Read the full text of the amendment here.)

Get live election updates and results after polls close at 7:30 p.m.

How would the commissioners be chosen?

First, members of the Ohio Ballot Board (but not the chairperson) would choose four retired judges — two Democrats and two Republicans — to form a screening panel that will review applications to serve on the new redistricting commission. The ballot board members have until Dec. 16 to finish the application for interested retired judges.

The selected judges will work with the state’s Department of Administrative Services to find a professional search firm to assist in designing and distributing an application for prospective commissioners. The process of choosing the commissioners will include opportunities for public input.

How long would commissioners serve?

The commission “shall be constituted and convened no later than May 16, 2025,” according to the law. New maps are to be finalized by Sept. 19, 2025. 

Commissioners’ terms “shall expire upon the appointment of the first member of the succeeding commission.” That would be in 2030, but once new maps have been approved and adopted, their work is essentially done.

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Important stories are hiding everywhere, and my favorite part of journalism has always been the collaboration, working with colleagues to find the patterns in the information we’re constantly gathering. I don’t care whose name appears in the byline; the work is its own reward. As Batman said to Commissioner Gordon in “The Dark Knight,” “I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be.”