GOP Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine opposes fall ballot effort to replace troubled political mapmaking system

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he will work to defeat a fall ballot issue aimed at remaking the state’s troubled political mapmaking system, and, if it passes, work with state lawmakers next year to advance a competing amendment based on the Iowa model.

At a news conference complete with corroborating visuals, DeWine contended that rules laid out in the Citizens Not Politicians amendment would divide communities and mandate outcomes that fit “the classic definition of gerrymandering.” He took specific aim at the proposal's requirement for partisan proportionality in the maps.

“Now, the idea of proportionality sounds fair," he said. "However, we see that requiring the map drawer to draw districts, each of which favors one political party, with each district having a predetermined partisan advantage, and requiring a certain number of districts to favor each party, obliterates all other good government objectives. They all go away.”

DeWine said Iowa's system — in which mapmakers are prohibited from consulting past election results or protecting individual lawmakers — would remove politics from the process.