Ohio Republicans approve misleading ballot language to favor gerrymandering

Supporters of the anti-gerrymandering amendment call GOP-controlled board ‘dishonest’ for warping proposal

Ohio voters could see an extremely misleading description of a proposal to curb extreme partisan gerrymandering on their November ballots after Republicans approved controversial language on Friday.

At issue is how to describe a proposal that would create a 15-person citizen commission to draw congressional and state legislative districts in Ohio. The commission – five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents – would be prohibited from drawing districts that “that favor one political party and disfavor others”.

But the language approved on Friday by the Republican-controlled Ohio ballot board misrepresents the proposal – instead leading voters to think they have less power in the process. It says the commissioners would be “required to gerrymander the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts to favor the two largest political parties in the state of Ohio”.