Issue 1 in Ohio will affect voting districts. Here’s why 10 Ohioans are voting ‘no’

The presidential race has dominated national headlines, but Ohioans have gerrymandering on their minds.

Nearly 900 people responded to The Dispatch’s unscientific poll on Ohio’s No. 1 redistricting reform amendment of citizens, not politicians, on the Nov. 5 ballot.

At the time of writing this piece, 78% of respondents said they would vote for the amendment that it would remove Republican and Democratic elected officials from the districts for seats in Congress, the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate.

Instead, the constitutional amendment would create an independent, citizen-balanced commission to fairly draw boundaries for 15 congressional districts, 33 state Senate districts and 99 state House districts.

The other side: Ohio’s #1 on gerrymandering reform and redistricting has 10 saying yes

Almost 200 respondents – 22% – said they would or would not vote “no”.

Almost all respondents indicated that they understood the concept of gerrymandering — manipulating the boundaries of voting districts to give a political party an unearned advantage.

Almost 100% of respondents indicated they were registered voters.

Here are 10 respondents and the city and zip code they provided:

1. Currently, the members of our government are made up of the redistribution commission. I don’t think it should change. I am usually against career politicians. But in this we need government officials making these decisions, not the average voter. It’s like getting a haircut from someone who’s never had a haircut before. It’s not a good idea. – Dublin, 43017

2. Politicians who know the constitution and the law should decide the changes to the electoral map. Otherwise, segments of the population that have a strong influence on the economy, such as farmers, would be underrepresented because the Democratic “citizens” behind issue 1 would give more weight to urban areas. – Columbus, 43219

3. We are changing the state constitution. it’s more than the gerrymandering issue. –

4. Commission members and judges are elected and unelected. Voters are out of the mix. – Brecksville, 44141

5. Why change it? I think Ohio’s Democratic leaders need to work a little harder to get votes. I never see them when election season comes. They need to be seen and heard more if they want my vote. I see Republicans everywhere and that’s why Ohio has become a red state. If Democrats want to get elected bad enough, they need to get with the people. – St. Louisville, 43071

6. It could adversely affect rural counties. I don’t like the idea of ​​not having access to committee members in the proposed constituency council. – Fairborn, 45324

7. No civilians will be vetted like elected politicians.- Woodstock, 43084

8. It’s a scheme to get Democrats two more seats in the US House. Proportional representation does not work with single-member districts. – Columbus, 43229

9. Democratic power grab financed by foreign money. –Gahanna, 43230

10. It puts unelected bureaucrats in political power who are accountable to no one and are never voted in by the citizens of the state of Ohio. Democrats, how does an unelected third party save democracy? Vote No on 1! – Columbus, 43214

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: Ohio Issue 1 is on the mind. Here’s 10 Why They Say No