The Ohio House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bipartisan plan changing how the state draws its legislative districts, sending the measure to voters to consider next year.
The House voted 80-8 to approve changes made to House Joint Resolution 12 by the Senate early Friday morning.
Changes to Ohio’s redistricting process have been introduced in every legislative session since 1978, but Wednesday’s vote marks the first time both chambers have agreed on a plan. The plan does not change how congressional districts are drawn.
Critics of the current method and the proposal’s supporters say it will make the process less partisan and more transparent.
“I think it will be a new day in Ohio in terms of how apportionment happens,” Rep. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, said on the House floor. “It will be a clearer process, one I think fairer to the general public and most importantly, I think the general public will understand how these things happen.”
Currently, a five-member panel – three statewide officeholders and two state lawmakers – draws maps for the state House and Senate districts every 10 years. The panel has drawn districts to be safer for party incumbents, which critics say cheats voters from deciding their representatives.
Under the plan passed Wednesday, the panel would include additional lawmakers from each party. The seven-member commission would draw district lines according to several criteria aimed at keeping counties and communities in the same district.
Maps could not be drawn to favor or disfavor a political party. The proportion of districts leaning toward one party or another would have to reflect statewide voting behavior observed over the previous 10 years.
Voters will decide in November 2015 whether to incorporate the new plan into the Ohio Constitution.
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